Narcolepsy is a neurological
disorder triggered by the brain’s failure to normalize sleep-wake cycles. It
causes excessive daytime sleep and cataplexy. It is often related to unexpected
sleep attacks where people tend to doze off for a minute or two suddenly. Insomnia, hallucinations and sleep-paralysis
are some of the other symptoms of narcolepsy.
Cataplexy is type 1 narcolepsy. In which a
patient suffers from sudden bouts of muscle weakness. According to the U.S. National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,
catalepsy is the most common symptom of narcolepsy, and affects more than 3,000
people in the U.S. alone.
According
to the latest research at Stanford University School of Medicine,
narcolepsy has been suspected of being an autoimmune disease. It indicates that
narcolepsy is caused by a misguided immune attack. Although, this has been long
suspected but never proven with facts.Fortunately, research has
laid out the possibility of a treatment focusing on the immune system that
could be used against the disease.
Research
shows that people who have decreased levels of hypocretin
or orexin, which is a brain chemical that helps in staying
awake, is the probable cause of narcolepsy. Experts believe that the cause of
this deficiency is probably caused by an abnormal immune system that attacks on
the brain cells that produce hypocretin.
The
researchers found that narcolepsy patients have blood T cells that react to a
particular hyprocretin protein. T cells are a key part of immune system
defenses against infection. It might be possible to treat narcolepsy with an
immune-suppressing therapy.
Bentham Science
Publishers is one of the leading STM publishers in the world.
It has a wealth of online journals and eBooks in the fields of pharmaceutical,
biomedical, medical, and engineering, technology, computer, psychology and the
like. One of its subscription based journal is “CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets”.
The journal has a number of different articles, including “The
Hypocretins and their Role in Narcolepsy”.