Parkinson's patients may soon have a new
treatment. Scientists have successfully used stem cells to replaced damaged
neurons. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Parkinson’s disease patients
can find hope in a new treatment, thanks to breakthrough stem cell research
that successfully replaces damaged nerves. Swedish researchers have figured out
how to create motor neurons that become lost in the brains of Parkinson’s
disease patients. They published their findings in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Researchers from Lund University took human
embryonic stem cells (hESC) from in vitro fertilization embryos and grew them
into motor neurons. The neurons were transplanted into the brains of rats with
Parkinson’s disease, and over the course of five months, their dopamine levels
rose back to normal. There are currently one million individuals living with
Parkinson’s disease in the United States, and 96 percent of them were diagnosed
after the age of 50.
Parkinson’s is an incurable progressive
disease that takes over your body, rendering you without control, according to
the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. It affects the nervous system and movement, causing
tremors, stiffness, slow movements, impaired posture and balance, speech changes,
and other life-changing symptoms. This tumbling loss of motor skills is
partially caused by the death of nerve cells that control dopamine in the
brain. Researchers don’t know exactly why the chemical messenger begins to die,
but once dopamine levels decrease, the brain loses the ability to regulate
critical muscle movements.
"Our study represents an important
milestone in the preclinical assessment of hESC-derived dopamine neurons and
provides essential support for their usefulness in treating Parkinson's
disease," said the study’s lead author Malin Parmar of Lund University, in
a press release.
There are medications available for
Parkinson’s patients, however, none have been able to successfully reverse the
effects of the disease. This research is only the first step toward new
treatment, but it's a huge and important finding in Parkinson’s disease
research. Scientists still need to see if they can reverse Parkinson’s symptoms
in animals on a long-term basis. Then, they need to see if they can replicate
their findings in humans. If laboratory testing passes in the future,
researchers may be able to use tissue from aborted human fetuses — one of the
few options, since there's a limited availability of cells. This would help
make stem cell replacement a realistic and therapeutic option for Parkinson’s
patients who need enough hESC to make the treatment effective.
Roger Barker, of Addenbrooke’s Hospital and
the University of Cambridge, reviewed the study and warned that the researchers
must be thorough in their process, without rushing into clinical testing.
"This involves understanding the history of the whole field of cell-based
therapies for Parkinson's disease and some of the mistakes that have
happened," Barker said. "It also requires a knowledge of what the
final product should look like and the need to get there in a collaborative way
without being tempted to take shortcuts, because a premature clinical trial could
impact negatively on the whole field of regenerative medicine."
Source: Parmar M, Grealish S, Diguet E,
Kirkeby A, Mattsson B, and Heuer A, et al. Human ESC-Derived Dopamine Neurons
Show Similar Preclinical Efficacy and Potency to Fetal Neurons when Grafted in
a Rat Model of Parkinson’s Disease. Cell Stem Cell. 2014.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1114/How_Parkinsons_Patients_May_Soon_Regain_Control.php3#CrgJ4amHE4vioUuV.99
No comments:
Post a Comment