100,000 CHF for Narcolepsy and Sleep disorders

BLACKSWAN Foundation raised 100,000 CHF for a project on Narcolepsy and Sleep disorders. This study will have important important outcomes for other neurodegenerative and autoimmune disorders.

Project:

Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells to investigate the neurobiology of hypocretin neurons and to show that cell-based therapy can be achieved in narcolepsy.

Narcolepsy a disease model to explore other neurodegenerative & autoimmune disorders

Although a rare disease, narcolepsy is considered as a perfect prototypical model to study and understand not only the physiology of sleep and wakefulness but also the molecular mechanisms involved in neurodegeneration and autoimmunity such as in multiple sclerosis.

In addition, several other sleep disorders might benefit from research on narcolepsy, such as REM behavior disorder, sleepwalking, and all other hypersomnias (idiopathic hypersomnia,Kleine-Levin syndrome). An example is provided by the discovery (Prof Tafti’s group) of a mutation in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) in a family with 12 members affected with narcolepsy. Interestingly, MOG has recently been linked to various neuropsychiatric disorders (bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia) and is considered a key autoantigen in multiple sclerosis and in its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalitis.

Narcolepsy is believed to be an autoimmune neurodegenerative disease. Patients have undetectable hypocretin levels in their cerebrospinal fluid and post mortem brain analysis indicated loss of hypocretin neurons (hypocretins are neurotransmitters essential for maintaining wakefulness and muscle tone). The cause (mechanism) of this autoimmune attack against hypocretin neurons leading to their degeneration is completely unknown.

Project leader:

Professor Mehdi Tafti is one of the two key opinion leaders in sleep disorders and narcolepsy, highly recognized at international level, currently Co-Director and Founder of the Center for Investigation and Research in Sleep, Vaud University Hospital, Lausanne-Switzerland, Full Professor at Center for Integrative Genomics.