Could brain-eating cannibals provide the key to treating CJD?

“Eating brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe become disease resistant,” The Daily Telegraph reports.

Some of the Fore people, who used to eat the brains of dead relatives as a mark of respect, may have developed resistance to prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt Jacob disease (CJD).

Prion diseases occur in humans and animals, and are caused by a build-up of abnormally folded proteins in the brain. Prion diseases can be passed on by eating infected tissue, such as beef that has been exposed to prions. This is known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”). There is currently no cure for prion diseases.

A tribe in Papua New Guinea were nearly wiped out by a prion disease called kuru. The infection was spread as a result of their tradition of eating the brains of deceased relatives at their mortuary feasts. Some people were resistant to the infection, and this was thought to be due to a mutation called V127 in the gene encoding the prion protein.

This study used genetically modified mice to test whether this genetic mutation was protective against kuru and CJD. The tests showed that mice with this genetic mutation were indeed resistant to these prion diseases.

The results suggest that this mutation could be responsible for the kuru resistance seen in the survivors. It is hoped this finding may eventually help to develop effective treatments for prion diseases, but much more research will be needed to get to that point.

Links To The Headlines

Eating brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe become disease resistant, claims research. The Daily Telegraph, June 10 2015

Eating human brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe resist disease, research shows. The Guardian, June 10 2015

Scientists find CJD resistance gene. BBC News, June 10 2015

Links To Science

Asante EA, Smidak M, Grimshaw A, et al. A naturally occurring variant of the human prion protein completely prevents prion disease. Nature. Published online June 10 2015