Degenerative diseases happen in two distinct phases, according to new research.

“‘The two phases of degeneration haven’t been previously recognized, so it hasn’t been understood, clinically, that you have two different populations of patients,’ says James McNew.” – (Credit: Leo Reynolds/Flickr)

Posted by Jade Boyd-Rice

“The researchers conducted countless experiments over more than a decade, and they’ve summarized all they’ve learned in a simple diagram they hope may change how doctors perceive and treat degenerative diseases as varied as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and muscle atrophy.

“The study in Molecular Psychiatry proposes that very different activities of protein signaling pathways that regulate basic cell functions mark the two phases.

“’We would like clinicians and other researchers to understand that the two phases of degeneration represent distinct entities, with distinct alterations in signaling pathways that have distinct effects on disease pathology,’ says Michael Stern, professor of biochemistry and cell biology in Rice University’s biosciences department.

“’In other words, we think that patients need to be treated differently depending on which phase they are in.'” – Continue reading this article at Futurity.org, click here.