IMPLANT TO HELP SLOW PARKINSON’S DISEASE

 

Dr. Steven Gill has been researching the benefits of Glial-cell line Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF)  in PARKINSON’S DISEASE for many years.

Together with his team of researchers from Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, United Kingdom, he had developed a new implant device to deliver GDNF directly to the affected area of the brain.

GDNF has been shown to be an especially potent factor for dopaminergic cell survival and for improving motor deficits such as those seen in PARKINSON’S DISEASE.

Finding ways to deliver GDNF to the affected areas in appropriate ways has been the challenge

The new device developed by this team consists of a small port surgically implanted behind the patient’s ear.

From this port, a system of tubes connects to the basal ganglia and regulated dose of GDNF can be pumped directly to the brain once a month.

To date, six patients have undergone this treatment and the team is now recruiting 36 more patients for a new trial.

If this treatment technology proves successful and safe, many other neurological diseases will be able to benefit from this technique.

Review by Marcia McCall

Photo credit: http://news.sky.com/story/1153456/brain-implant-could-stop-parkinsons-growth

NEW DRUGS FOR PARKINSON’S DISEASE UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals is working on developing two new drugs to treat PARKINSON’S DISEASE from two different perspectives and they have received a large grant to help fund this promising research.

The first approach is directed at eliminating or at least preventing alpha synuclein from entering the nervous system.  Presently, Lundbeck has developed a line of anti-bodies that bind with alpha-synuclein and one those anti-bodies has shown a direct effect in animal models of PARKINSON’S DISEASE.  Their hope is to develop the best antibody with the potential to slow the progression of PARKINSON’S DISEASE in people or to perhaps, eliminate it altogether.  A human medical model is still a ways off, and lots of work remains to be done, but this company is definitely up to the task.

Their next project involves creating a symptomatic treatment that does not involve the dopamine receptors in the brain.  They are focused on a so-called “orphan G-protein” in a part of the brain that controls the motor system.  Already they have several drugs that can control the activity of this protein.  Their hope for this project is to create a new type of drug for treatment of the motor symptoms of PARKINSON’S DISEASE that does not have the side effects of current medications.  We all hope that success comes SOON!

Learn more about Lundbeck Research and Development

Review by Marcia McCall

Photo credit: http://www.lundbeck.com/global/about-us/facts-and-background/milestones

LASER THERAPY A NEW HOPE FOR PARKINSON’S DISEASE

 

Aggregates of alpha-synuclein in brain cells of people with PARKINSON’S DISEASE have long been the target of research hoping to cure or at least alleviate the symptoms of dementias often associated with PARKINSON’S DISEASE.  Newly publicized research from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden together with Wroclaw University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland found that it is possible to use a laser driven technology to distinguish the formations of alpha-synuclein proteins from the formations of other functionally beneficial and necessary proteins in the brain.  The same technique, called “multi-photon laser technique” could also be used to eliminate those aggregated proteins..

These researchers believe that the ability to target these misfolded proteins that are believed to be part of the disease process for many dementia type diseases, including Alzheimer’s, PARKINSON’S,  and Lewy Body diseases may enable them to be destroyed by laser instead of by taking multiple drugs to counter their activity.  Photo acoustic therapies, such as these researchers discuss, has already been used to destroy cancer tumors in certain specific settings.  During this therapy, the specific light wave energy of the laser is converted to heat on targeted specific light wave sensitive receptors on the cells.  The heat generated then destroys that targeted cell.

This treatment for destroying alpha-synuclein misfolded proteins is a very new, “on the cutting edge of research” technology.  As with all new procedures and technologies, a lot of studies will need to be done before it can be made widely available to treat people with PARKINSON’S DISEASE.  It would be a non-surgically invasive procedure and would potentially reduce the use of medications while wiping out the dementia caused by accumulations of alpha-synuclein.

With Thanks to

Piotr Hanczyc, Marek Samoc, Bengt Norden. Multiphoton absorption in amyloid protein fibres. Nature Photonics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2013.282

 

Reviewed by Marcia McCall

 

Picture Credit’s

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2487249/Could-LASER-zap-away-Alzheimers-Parkinsons-CJD.html

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/05/333191/study-lasers-may-cure-brain-diseases/

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