Novel Insight in Neurodegenerative Diseases Trumped by Priori
Biases and Money
Many people joined science because it is apolitical. But science and everything always seems to
find its way back to business. Yet, the opportunity to explore the unknown persuades many to pursue a
science career. In 1953, Dr. Francis, one of the discoverers of DNA, walked into a pub, The Eagle in
Cambridge, and proclaimed
“We have found the secret of life”.
Through other experiments, we know that the arrangement of Adenosine (A), Thymine (T), Guanine
(G), and Cytosine (C), the four nucleotides that make DNA, codes for amino acids. There are twenty
essential amino acids in our body which are the building blocks for protein. Protein can range from
keratin, which makes up your hair and nails, to enzymes that help you digest food.
However, we are still unsure of what causes neurodegenerative diseases. We do know that
Huntington’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that causes uncontrolled movements, develops after
36 CAG repeats on chromosome 4. The CAG repeats affect the huntingtin protein, which is essential for
the development of neurons and life. Dr. John Smith, a senior scientist at Logan University, noticed that
people with the same number of CAG repeats, develop Huntington disease at different ages – as much as
50 years apart. This kickstarted Truant’s journey to a novel discovery that may have implications for
neurodegenerative diseases, and ultimately to his discovery’s downfall.
From Truant’s initial lead, his team noticed that exposure to trauma is correlated to the
development of neurodegenerative disorders later in one’s life. Truant says that extreme stress leads to
the production of reactive oxygen species that damage DNA. However, the body does have DNA repair
