The Lewy Body Protien

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ninaperry27
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Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:51 am
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The Lewy Body Protien

Post by ninaperry27 »

Science fair project? I read that protein denaturing/aggregation has occurred in the brain as part of Lewy Body disease. Can I get help with any ideas around "blocking" proteins ... as the new research and drugs trials are around blocking the proteins.
A recent drug is being used and has been trialed at Georgetown - "nilotinib" that was used for cancer treatment and is now being used for Lewy Body patients. Are there are science fair projects I do with the blocking proteins in the brain and improving the neurotransmission that is being blocked by the protein aggregation ? Any simulations I can run that show how if I unblock the protein then memory may start to improve? I don't have access to a lab. I need something and materials I can use at home. Would love to have a mentor in my science fair journey please, as soon as I can. Need help over next few days. -Nina
donnahardy2
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi,

Welcome to Science Buddies!

You have a great idea for a science project. Since you don’t have access to a lab and you can’t do clinical trials with humans in a science project, you will have to adapt your project to something that you can do. What you need is a specific idea for one controlled experiment on the topic

One problem with Lewy Body disease is that it is difficult to diagnose. Perhaps you could work on developing a blood test that could diagnose this disease.

Another problem is that no one knows what causes this disease. Maybe you could find out why.

For the moment, do as much background reading as possible and find out everything you can about the disease and the methods used for diagnosis. That will help you know what to do as the next step for a research project. Let me know what you find out.

I am not familiar with this topic, so I will also do some more reading and try to post additional suggestions for a science project.

Donna
ninaperry27
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Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:51 am
Occupation: Student

Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by ninaperry27 »

Thank you. There is some research on memory and snails... and they have thought that coconut oil can help with patients who have Lewy Body ... but again my problem is no lab. Is there any other was that you know of that I can get lab access?
How can I develop a blood test ? That would be an interesting endeavor...
The hard part for me is to create a controlled experiment in this area.
donnahardy2
Former Expert
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Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2005 12:45 pm

Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi,
You could do a project with snails. However, if you used coconut oil, or anything else, you would need a rationale for using it in your science project. This is definitely a potential idea for a science project experiment, however, and you would not need a lab.

Do snails or any other invertebrates get anything like LBD or Parkinsons?

You probably have already found the list of research articles on the LBDA website:

https://www.lbda.org/node/1304

There is an article about LBDA support for families. Perhaps you could do a behavior project on this topic.

There is a mouse model for LBD. It would be challenging and would require prior approval from your local scientific review committee, but if you could obtain mice that get LBD, perhaps you could do a mini clinical trial. This would be an excellent, but expensive project.

https://www.lbda.org/content/cancer-dru ... ouse-model

There is a webinar on the LBDA website that includes 33 recommendations for research on Parkinson’s. Perhaps there is a project idea you could use in this list:

https://www.lbda.org/content/nih-drafts ... h-strategy

Memory and cognitive testing is done to follow the progression of patients with signs of dementia. Perhaps you could review the standard testing that is done and make improvements in the testing protocols. This could help in the diagnosis of LBD and differentiation between other types of dementia.

https://www.lbda.org/content/mci-visual ... alzheimers

Do you live close to a research center that does research of Lewy Body Dementia? If you, you could contact the research labs and inquire about access to the lab. However, it will be difficult to get permission as most researchers are very busy. Don’t be surprised if you don’t receive a reply. Continue to investigate other possibilities.

Keep reading. It can take a little while to develop a specific idea when you are working on an original idea. Let me know if any of the topics I suggested might work, or if you find anything else.

Donna
jcschrandt
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by jcschrandt »

Hi, Ninperry27! You have a great topic for this project! Are you entering a specific science fair? Does your project need to be hands on? Some scientists use computers to perform original research by studying things like protein interaction simulations and correlations between genes and diseases. You may want to consider doing something like a genome-wide association study to look more at correlations between genetics and LBD. Let me know if this interests you, and I can forward you some websites and tips for how to do this kind of study.

Also, another great resource for all kinds of scientific research is pubmed.gov . Some of the research articles require a subscription, but you can search for articles by filtering for free articles. You can also filter for review articles, which are generally easier to understand.

Hope this helps!
Jen
donnahardy2
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi ninaperry27,

Jan has given you an excellent suggestion for a project. A computer search on the topic would be very worthwhile and would solve the problem of no lab access. I agree that review articles are good because they are easier to understand and they summarize many other articles published on the topic.

I have another suggestion. What grade are you in? If you are not a senior, you could do a memory project this year and use your success on that project to help get access to a research lab for next year.

There is an excellent maze project idea from this website that uses slime mold. You could do something similar with Planaria. You would need to develop the idea to make it a prize winning project.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p060.shtml


Donna
donnahardy2
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi,

Here's another idea. Here is an abstract from a research article that describes typical eye movements in LBD patients. With LBD, there are deficits in orientation, trail-making and reading the names of colors. Perhaps you could do a study on this topic.

Clin Exp Optom. 2012 Nov;95(6):621-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1444-0938.2012.00770.x. Epub 2012 Jul 19.
Visual signs and symptoms of dementia with Lewy bodies.

Armstrong RA1.
Author information

Abstract

Dementia with Lewy bodies ('Lewy body dementia' or 'diffuse Lewy body disease') (DLB) is the second most common form of dementia to affect elderly people, after Alzheimer's disease. A combination of the clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease is present in DLB and the disorder is classified as a 'parkinsonian syndrome', a group of diseases which also includes Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration and multiple system atrophy. Characteristics of DLB are fluctuating cognitive ability with pronounced variations in attention and alertness, recurrent visual hallucinations and spontaneous motor features, including akinesia, rigidity and tremor. In addition, DLB patients may exhibit visual signs and symptoms, including defects in eye movement, pupillary function and complex visual functions. Visual symptoms may aid the differential diagnoses of parkinsonian syndromes. Hence, the presence of visual hallucinations supports a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or DLB rather than progressive supranuclear palsy. DLB and Parkinson's disease may exhibit similar impairments on a variety of saccadic and visual perception tasks (visual discrimination, space-motion and object-form recognition). Nevertheless, deficits in orientation, trail-making and reading the names of colours are often significantly greater in DLB than in Parkinson's disease. As primary eye-care practitioners, optometrists should be able to work with patients with DLB and their carers to manage their visual welfare.


Working with humans would require prior approval from your local scientific review committee. I don’t know if you could get approval for working with LBD patients, but you could certainly work with volunteers who could give you their informed consent.

Here is information about the scientific review committee.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... _src.shtml

Donna
ninaperry27
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by ninaperry27 »

Thank you so much. I am in 10th grade. I have also read that LB patients have a high white blood cell count. I was wondering if I can show any correlation there. But my biggest challenge right now is to start off with some experiment where I can show different substance ( perhaps with varying PH levels) that can block this bad protein from a neuron. Was wondering how I can expose a protein on a dish and bring in solutions that act as white blood cells ( with different variances) and observe how the protein reacts? ... I'll keep reading...and try to look for something I can do that is measureable.
donnahardy2
Former Expert
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi,

This is interesting. Please do get more information about the white blood cells in lBD patients. Elevated wbc counts occur in response to an invasion of foreign invaders, such as viruses or bacteria, or perhaps it could be due to an autoimmune response. Do you have a reference that describes what type of white blood cells are increased?

Donna
ninaperry27
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Occupation: Student

Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by ninaperry27 »

What I am trying to piece together is that their is an increase in WBC count and that nilotinib ( a trial drug used in LBD) is that is currently used to treat cancer and is being used in Lewy Body. Maybe , just maybe that increase is trying to fight that bad LBD protein??? Just a hypothesis ... LBD patients have also been seen to have an increased WBC count. Are they trying to fight the bad protein as an infection?

"Leukemia – leukemia is a type of cancer that dramatically increases your number of white blood cells. Leukemic white blood cells are often non-functional, which may increase the risk of infection in these cancer patients. ... The good news is that white blood cell levels will return to normal after the stress..."
donnahardy2
Former Expert
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Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2005 12:45 pm

Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi,

Can you post the link for the nilotnib trial?

Cancer drugs usually kill of rapidly dividing cells, including white blood cells, so it is necessary to monitor WBC count in the patient. A very low WBC count would make the patient more susceptible to infection. So the WBC count may not be related to the Lewy Body disease, but to the treatment.

The Lewy bodies are abnormal protein deposits in the brain that damage brain so maybe the drug is slowing down abnormal protein production.

Donna
ninaperry27
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Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:51 am
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by ninaperry27 »

Here is the trial research:
https://gumc.georgetown.edu/magazine/2016/parkinson


Thank you ...
ninaperry27
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:51 am
Occupation: Student

Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by ninaperry27 »

Here is some more information I was reading about WBC :

https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/ ... nt_id=1467
donnahardy2
Former Expert
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Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2005 12:45 pm

Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by donnahardy2 »

Hi,

Thanks. These look great. I'm working on a deadline at work, but I will send a complete response tomorrow morning. The WBC information looks intriguing, and a project might be doable if you had access to a lab.

Donna
ninaperry27
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Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:51 am
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Re: The Lewy Body Protien

Post by ninaperry27 »

I really appreciate all this extra help and guidance. This is a wonderful way to get and share knowledge!
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