Quantum dots in brain could treat Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases

9 July 2018    By Clare Wilson

Quantum dots may break up proteins in the brain that cause Parkinson’s disease

May C. Schiess, Roger Back, UT Medical School/Science Photo Library

Tiny particles called quantum dots reduce symptoms in mice primed to develop a type of Parkinson’s disease, and also block formation of the toxic protein clumps in Alzheimer’s. They could one day be a novel treatment for these brain disorders, although tests in people are some years away.

Quantum dots are  just a few nanometres in size – so small they become subject to some of the strange effects of quantum physics. They have useful electronic and fluorescent properties and are found in some TV screens and LED lights.

Unlike most medicines, their tiny size means they can pass from bloodstream into the brain. Byung Hee Hong of Seoul National University in the South Korea and his colleagues wondered if they would affect the molecules involved in Parkinson’s or other brain disorders.

Parkinson’s disease involves gradually worsening tremors and movement problems. It is thought to be caused by a protein called synuclein found in nerve cells folding into the wrong shape, which triggers a chain reaction of misfolding in nearby synuclein molecules. This leads to a build-up of long strands or “fibrils” of the protein, killing neurons.

Quantum surprise

Hong’s team found that in a dish, quantum dots made from graphene – a form of carbon – bind to synuclein, and not only stop it from clumping into fibres, but also cause existing fibres to break up into individual molecules. “We didn’t expect the quantum dots to induce disaggregation of fibrils,” says Hong.

Next the team injected quantum dots into mice dosed with fibrils, which normally trigger gradually worsening movement problems. Six months later, the mice showed improvement on two different physical tests.

If the treatment affects people the same way, Hong says it is unclear how much benefit this would bring. “It’s hard to translate the results in mice to actual patients, whose systems are way more complicated. But we do believe quantum dots can make positive impacts to some extent.”

Another team has found that quantum dots show promise for Alzheimer’s disease; in a similar fashion, they bind to a protein called amyloid, and reduce it from clumping together, a process thought to be involved in this dementia. However tests in an animal version of Alzheimer’s haven’t yet been reported.

“This might be a universal effect on any kind of fibrillation process related to disease,” says Hong. His team is investigating using quantum dots in Alzheimer’s and motor neuron disease – the condition that affected Stephen Hawking – which also involves protein clumping.

Sebastien Paillusson of King’s College London, who was not involved in the work, says the findings in mice are promising, but should not raise anyone’s hopes until the approach has been tested in people. “Unfortunately in Parkinson’s there have been a lot of compounds shown to work in mice but not in humans.”

Paillusson added, though, that it was unusual for anything to reverse the fibre-forming process. “This is a very novel approach.”

Hong says if safety tests in animals go well, they hope to start trials in people in about two years.

Journal reference: Nature Nanotechnology, DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0179-y

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2173740-quantum-dots-in-brain-could-treat-parkinsons-and-alzheimers-diseases/

Huntington's disease—how brain training games could help

July 9, 2018 by Emma Yhnell, The Conversation

Credit: Lia Koltyrina/Shutterstock

In the search for new treatments, science often focuses on medication first. But drugs aren't the only way to fight illness, particularly when looking at brain diseases. My research looks into how playing specially designed computer games might help people who are living with Huntington's disease.

Huntington's is a brain disorder that gets progressively worse over time, leading to problems with movement and thinking. We know that the disease is caused by a single faulty gene, which in itself is very unique. Often if you have particular genes, your risk of developing certain diseases might increase or decrease, but it is very rare for a disease to be caused completely by a single gene. Although research is currently ongoing, unfortunately at present there are no treatments for the underlying cause of Huntington's, or to prevent the disease getting worse.

You might be wondering how brain training games can possibly help those with Huntington's disease if there aren't yet any effective treatments for the disease. But, as my mum always used to say to me, "practice makes perfect" – if you practice something repeatedly you will generally get better at it. 

This principle applies to brain training, too. If you practice tasks or games that are designed to help with thinking, you will probably get better at thinking. This is sometimes referred to as the "use it or lose it" approach. If you use your thinking skills and keep them active, you will probably be able to maintain them. But if you don't practice something regularly you may forget it and not be as good at it as you once were. This is particularly relevant if you know that your thinking ability is going to get worse.

Using computer games to train the brain has been studied in the healthy ageing population, and also with other diseases which affect the brain such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. These studies have generally found that brain training is beneficial for improving thinking – although there is much debate about whether brain training could improve movement problems or improve quality of life for people living with these brain diseases. 

At present, there is very little evidence about computer game training and how it might impact people with Huntington's disease. But we are now conducting a feasability study to work out whether the research can actually be done before progressing to a bigger study. Full scale studies require lots of participants and funding, so it is important to demonstrate that the research can actually work with a small number of people first.

Using this initial study, we want to demonstrate that computer game brain training is acceptable for people who are impacted by Huntington's disease. We know that lack of motivation and apathy can be characteristic symptoms of Huntington's disease. So we are asking people who have the disease to play brain training computer games to see how they get on.

Half of the participants will be asked to play the brain training computer games and half will continue as normal, in a control group. This is important as it will allow us to compare the results of the people who played the brain training games to those who did not. We are asking the participants playing the brain training computer games to play them for three 30-minute sessions a week, for 12 weeks. We will then be asking them how they got on with playing the games and what they liked and disliked so that we can improve the study in the future. 

Not all games marketed as brain training are equal – most are designed to specifically test or train your thinking skills but some are designed purely for entertainment and pleasure. So we have carefully chosen the games our participants will play to make sure that the games specifically train thinking skills. The brain training games that we are using are focused on training thinking skills of executive function – the higher thinking skills of the brain. These include number puzzles, word games and tasks that measure attention.

Although our study is focused on Huntington's disease, it will help us learn about brain training more generally, too. We already know that the more often you play a game, the better you get at it. If you play the card game Snap!, for example, you might get much quicker at pairing the cards and beating your opponent, but how does this translate to the rest of your life? 

Brain training will not be able to change the faulty gene that causes Huntington's, but it might just help improve day to day life for people who are impacted by the disease.

For further information about Huntington's disease and support, visit The Huntington's disease association, or HDBuzz, which provides excellent summaries of current Huntington's research.

Provided by: The Conversation

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-07-huntington-diseasehow-brain-games.html

Switching brain circuits on and off without surgery

July 9, 2018, California Institute of Technology

In the maze of our brains, there are various pathways by which neural signals travel. These pathways can go awry in patients with neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders, such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Researchers have developed new therapeutic strategies to more precisely target neural pathways involved in these conditions, but they often require surgery.

The latest findings from the laboratory of Mikhail Shapiro, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Caltech, are now showing how scientists and doctors might, in the future, selectively turn neural circuits on and off—without the need for surgery. The new study, featured in the July 9 online edition of Nature Biomedical Engineering, demonstrates how the method—which involves a trio of therapies: ultrasound waves, gene therapy, and synthetic drugs—can be used to specifically alter memory formation in mice.

"By using sound waves and known genetic techniques, we can, for the first time, noninvasively control specific brain regions and cell types as well as the timing of when neurons are switched on or off," says Shapiro, who is also a Schlinger Scholar and a Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator. The work has implications for basic research in animals and for the future treatment of neurological and psychiatric conditions.

While the idea of fine-tuning neural circuits is not new—for instance, in a growing field called optogenetics, light is used to control brain regions via implanted optical fibers—the novel aspect of Shapiro's method is sound waves. Shapiro's lab has previously used sound waves to image and control the function of engineered cells inside the body.

In the new study, the sound waves are used in combination with small bubbles injected into the blood to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier—a protective layer that prevents substances in the blood, particularly those that could be harmful, from getting into the brain.

"When the bubbles are hit with ultrasound waves, they vibrate, and this motion jostles the blood-brain barrier open for a brief period of time," says Jerzy Szablowski, lead author of the new study and a postdoctoral scholar in Shapiro's lab.

The temporary opening of the blood-brain barrier is the first step in the new three-pronged strategy for controlling neural circuits. With the blood-brain barrier open in the region targeted by ultrasound, the team can then use gene therapy. A virus is delivered into the blood, it passes the blood-brain barrier, and then delivers genetic instructions to the desired cells. These genetic instructions code for proteins, called chemogenetic receptors, which have been designed to respond to a certain lab-made drug.

The final step in the process is to administer the drug and turn the specific neurons on or off.

In the new study, the researchers demonstrated the technique by targeting memory-forming neurons in mice, located in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. When the mice were given the chemogenetic drug, these neurons were turned off, and, as a result, the mice were temporarily unable to form new memories.

Because the Shapiro lab's new technique combines chemogenetics with ultrasound, the team has dubbed it "acoustically targeted chemogenetics," or ATAC.

"This is an impressive, innovative approach that will be useful for many neuroscientists," says pharmacology professor Bryan Roth of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the inventor of some of the first chemogenetic proteins, who was not involved in the study.

"Our method is a combination of technologies, each of which have been used in animals and are being advanced into the clinic," says Shapiro. "Because of this, we are further along in our development process than we would be if we started from scratch."

The researchers say they hope to continue testing in animals with models of diseases such as epilepsy. Many patients with epilepsy currently undergo surgery to cut out the regions of their brain where seizures are thought to be triggered. With the ATAC method, specific brain areas could, in theory, be switched off temporarily without surgery.

"This method is reversible," says Szablowski. "You can administer a drug to turn off neural cells of interest, but, with time, those cells will turn back on. You can also perform drug dosing to determine how completely you are shutting off that region of the brain."

More information: Acoustically targeted chemogenetics for the non-invasive control of neural circuits, Nature Biomedical Engineering (2018). www.nature.com/articles/s41551-018-0258-2

Journal reference: Nature Biomedical Engineering

Provided by: California Institute of Technology

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-07-brain-circuits-surgery.html

Age, fitness, and smoking status affect onset of Parkinson’s disease

Lacey HizartzidisJuly 7, 2018

A recent study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology investigated the association between physical activity and the onset of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. It affects the motor system, limits movement, and causes rigidity and postural instability. The pathogenic mechanisms or cause of the disease remain unknown, but several factors may play a role, including environmental triggers and genetics.

Several studies have explored the impact of various environmental factors such as caffeine, smoking, diet and inflammation on the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. However, many of these studies have limitations in their methods. This limits their validity in providing evidence of the impact and association the environmental factors have on Parkinson’s disease.

Recent research has found that more exercise may be linked to a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease. However, the results of these studies have been inconsistent and there have been issues with the interpretation of the results. Some of the issues were due to errors in questionnaires, overestimating an individual’s physical activity, and differences in protocols, interventions and outcome measures.

A recent study by researchers in Germany and the United States investigated the association between physical activity and the onset of Parkinson’s disease further, and their results were published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

The study included 7347 male veterans from the Veterans Exercise Testing Study (VETS) cohort, with an average age of 59 years. The VETS is an ongoing evaluation of veterans who were referred for exercise testing for clinical reasons. The VETS study assesses the association between exercise, clinical and lifestyle factors with health outcomes.

After an average follow-up period of 12.5 years, 94 individuals (1.3%) developed Parkinson’s disease. The incidence of the disease in this population was 86 cases per 100,000 person-years, which is consistent with previous studies that have shown a higher incidence rate of Parkinson’s in older males, especially those over 80 years old.

The factors with the strongest association with the disease were age (again consistent with previous studies), smoking, and physical fitness. When comparing individuals without any of these risk factors, or only one risk factor compared to those with two risk factors, the incidence of Parkinson’s increased 3.7-fold, while individuals with all three risk factors had a 7.8-fold higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

This study highlighted that the individuals least at risk of developing Parkinson’s disease are those who are younger, not currently smoking, and had a higher physical fitness. This evidence provides strong support for recommending regular exercise to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease. However, future studies are required to determine the duration, intensity, and type of exercise that would have the greatest impact. Furthermore, these findings are consistent with previous epidemiological studies that focused on the association between physical activity and the onset of Parkinson’s disease.

Written by Lacey Hizartzidis, PhD

References:

(1) Müller J, Myers J. Association between physical fitness, cardiovascular riskfactors, and Parkinson’s disease. Eur J PrevCardiol. 2018 Jan1:2047487318771168. doi: 0.1177/2047487318771168.

(2) Hirsch L, Jette N, Frolkis A, Steeves T, Pringsheim T, The Incidence of Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Neuroepidemiology 2016;46:292-300

https://www.medicalnewsbulletin.com/age-fitness-smoking-onset-parkinsons-disease/

AN ASSESSMENT OF HAVING PARKINSON'S DISEASE FOR 35 YEARS

July 8, 2018

An assessment was carried out of the clinical, neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging features of Parkinson's Disease since the onset of motor symptoms in people who had Parkinson's Disease for over 35 years.

The patients who were assessed had been treated with L-dopa and subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS). Despite the amount of time that had elapsed there was still a sustained motor response to L-dopa (range 14%-35%), a sustained response to STN-DBS (range 23%-38%), and also to L-dopa plus STN-DBS (37%-63%). There were mild to moderate non-motor symptoms (within a range of 19 to 83 on a scale of 0 to 360), and autonomic dysfunction (within a range of 8-28 on a scale of 0-69).

Two patients were demented, one had mild cognitive impairment, and two were cognitively preserved. Three of the patients had a peripheral neuropathy and two had a moderate- to-severe autonomic neuropathy. Their genetic tests were unremarkable.

Even after more than 35 years of having Parkinson's Disease, L-dopa and STN-DBS remained effective to some extent, and were even more effective in combination, on the cardinal symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.

Reference : Journal of Neurology [2018] Jun 26 [Epub ahead of print] (A.Romagnolo, M.Fabbri, A.Merola, E.Montanaro, S.Palermo, T.Martone, A.Seresini, S.Goldwurm, M.G. Rizzone, L.Lopiano) 

Complete abstract : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29943201

http://www.viartis.net/parkinsons.disease/news/180708.pdf

Sunday Seniors: Dance Class Gets Parkinson’s Sufferers Moving, Laughing

July 7, 2018  By Liz Sauchelli
Valley News Calendar Editor

A group of more than two dozen people participated in a Dance for PD class held late last month at Open Door Integrative Wellness in White River Junction. (Kay McCabe photographs)

White River Junction — What do you picture when you think of Parkinson’s disease?

For me — and I’m embarrassed to say this — the first thing that comes to mind are the involuntary tremors that afflict those who suffer from the movement disorder.

What probably doesn’t come to mind is dancing, but after observing a Dance for PD class, strength and gracefulness are two characteristics I will surely attribute to Parkinson’s disease.

Late last month, Open Door Integrative Wellness in White River Junction and Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center for the Arts teamed up to offer a Dance for PDclass, taught by Mark Morris Dance Group members Sam Black and Lesley Garrison, who were in town for performances of Pepperland.

More than two dozen people gathered to take part in the class at Open Door, which ran for a little more than an hour. Rows of chairs were spread out in a large oval, with Black and Garrison in the center. The lighting was subdued and the light blue walls were complemented by the sunlight streaming through the two large storefront windows.

“This class is designed for everyone to feel good and have fun,” Black said, adding that people could modify the movements to their individual capabilities. Not all of the participants have Parkinson’s disease; many were accompanied by their spouses or other caregivers. 

“We’re the tallest, longest version of ourselves,” Black said as he began to lead a series of stretching exercises.

Dance for PD was founded in 2001 as a collaboration between the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group, according to the nonprofit organization’s website. It is now fully run by the dance group.

I sat off to the side, at times joined by Open Door founder and CEO Kate Gamble, who has a special place in her heart for Dance for PD. A physical therapist, Gamble also has extensive experience in dance and has taught Dance for PD classes before. She plans to offer a course this fall.

“The music kind of frees them,” Gamble said. While the program does address such physical needs as balance and motor skills, there are mental benefits as well, which could be clearly seen through the smiles on participants faces.

Black and Garrison would teach the group choreographed routines before placing the moves to music. The songs ranged from selections from Pepperland to classical pieces. Everyone did the same dances, on par with what everyone was comfortable doing.

There was a sense of togetherness that was apparent throughout the whole class. Gamble said that’s part of the point, “not only movement, but the sense of community,” she said.

Mary Ruppert and Ken Parker drove from their home in Lyman, N.H., to attend the class.

“We drove a long way,” Ruppert said.

“And well worth it,” Parker finished, adding that he enjoyed doing all the different moves.

The couple shared that, in addition to Parkinson’s disease, Parker is facing Alzheimer’s disease as well, a “double whammy,” as Ruppert described it. “Its been a long road.”

Programs like Dance for PD offer a bit of a reprieve.

“It’s a certain freedom of movement,” Ruppert said. “Everybody should do it.”

It also gave caregivers an opportunity to experience something new with their partners, instead of being in a traditional role of providing care, which can cause relationships to feel unbalanced. This was a lighter activity that they could enjoy together.

“It’s so great for them,” Gamble said.

During one activity, partners split up to walk around to shake hands and give each other high-fives.

“It’s about meeting that person where they are,” Garrison said.

Think about that for a moment. With a neurodegenerative disorder like Parkinson’s disease, the decline often isn’t swift. It’s prolonged and difficult, with different symptoms affecting different people in different ways. At Dance for PD, people understand each other and their abilities. They provide support that may be difficult to find elsewhere. 

“People with chronic or other illnesses like that need opportunities to get out of the hospital setting,” Gamble said.

That’s not to knock traditional forms of physical therapy, but simply to say that programs like Dance for PD are just as necessary. 

The picture that comes to mind when imagining Parkinson’s disease — and all other neurodegenerative disorders for that matter — needs to change. Instead of paying attention to tremors, we should be cognizant of the individual who is coping with the disorder. 

“We definitely have to change how we approach aging,” Gamble said.

Programs like Dance for PD are a great place to start.

Editor’s note: For more information about Dancing for PD, visit danceforparkinsons.org. To learn more about Open Door and its upcoming programs, visit opendoorworkshop.com or contact Gamble at opendoorwrj@gmail.com or 904-626-5284. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.

http://www.vnews.com/Sunday-Seniors-Dance-Class-Gets-Parkinson-s-Sufferers-Moving-Laughing-18640596

Group hopes to bring attention to Parkinson's

July 8, 2018     By Daniel Cobb 

Elizabeth Stegemoller is a board-certified music therapist who says singing and listening to music can help alleviate symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease affects about one million people in the United States, and while there are commonalities, no two people will experience it in the same way.

Parkinson’s typically is categorized by tremors, though rigidity of the limbs, slowness of movement, postural instability or impaired coordination also are involved in the list of symptoms. Such a disease can foster strong feelings of depression and even isolation, which is why Cynthia Pederson believes the PD Awareness Group is so important.

Pederson’s husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2011, and she attended the first PD Awareness Group’s meeting two years ago, eventually becoming its secretary as well as an event organizer of sorts.

“I think what happens with … a lot of particularly chronic and debilitating diseases is that your social life gets restricted either because you’re embarrassed by symptoms or because everything’s harder to do, so this is one way to get together with people who understand,” Pederson says.

The group, which meets once a month, regularly brings in professors and speakers who can give more insight into the disease, though sessions where participants sit down, talk and share resources also are common.

Pederson hopes the group can bring attention to what those with PD struggle with on a daily basis.

“People just think it’s the tremor because that’s what they see,” she says. “It’s so much more than that with Parkinson’s disease. The tremor is probably the least of it. It’s important to understand the journey of Parkinson’s, even though it’s a very individual disease. With having these speakers, you never really know when they’re going to say something that really matters to how you look at life and how you take this journey that you don’t want to take.”

Thursday, the group learned more about music’s effect on PD from Dr. Elizabeth Stegemoller, an assistant professor in kinesiology at Iowa State University and a board-certified music therapist with a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Singing, in particular, is one of Stegemoller’s specialties, as well as a significant area in her research.

“We know that it can improve their breathing, voice and their swallow, which is really important, because complications from swallow are one of the leading causes of death in Parkinson’s disease,” Stegemoller says. “After one session of singing … we found that it also helps their other motor symptoms like tremor and walking to get better.”

She says stress also is reduced and using preferred music increases dopamine production in the brain, which is one of the neurotransmitters that is reduced in people with Parkinson’s disease.

In years past, some of her research focused on movement in association with music and how latter affects the former. Topics like this help to benefit her listeners who may be struggling with Parkinson’s or know someone who has been diagnosed.

“It’s mainly about how they can use music in their everyday life, why it’s good for you, and this is how you can use it,” Stegemoller says. “And I always put in the research that supports it. We sing, we do some vocal and physical exercises as well.”

The PD Awareness Group meets at 5:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Joyce Raye Patterson Center.

Daniel Cobb can be reached at daniel.cobb@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowCobb.

http://www.newspressnow.com/life/group-hopes-to-bring-attention-to-parkinson-s/article_d0662250-541e-5e28-ad5c-0f5cd3130cb6.html

Michael J. Fox: Working towards cure for Parkinson's "one of the great gifts of my life"

July 8, 2018

https://youtu.be/PEDVKpbi48s

A time-traveling Michael J. Fox astonished Christopher Lloyd in the 1985 movie "Back To The Future" ... little imagining what his REAL future would hold. What it's brought is a challenge Fox has met with courage, resolve, and remarkable good humor, as Jane Pauley reports (Originally broadcast October 29, 2017):  

Throughout the 1980s Michael J. Fox was the personification of youthful physicality. A decade later, starring in the hit TV series, "Spin City," his main acting challenge was to act like someone who didn't have Parkinson's.

In one scene he grabbed his foot.  "You're supposed to be nervous, so it kind of works," Pauley said. 

"My first choice wouldn't be to grab my foot, as an acting choice, but it worked in the scene," Fox said. 

The Emmy-winning actor, who says his neurodegenerative disorder "sucks," has set up an online study to help researchers develop vastly-improved therapies.

 CBS NEWS

But the 100th episode, he presumed, was the last act of his acting career. The season finale was called, "Goodbye."

He noticed the first troubling muscle tremor at the height of his career, while filming "Doc Hollywood" in Florida.

Pauley, who'd come down then to do an interview with Fox, recalled, "It's not like we were great personal friends or anything, but I felt funny, like something [was] wrong. I came away with the perception that you were distracted.  Am I projecting?"

"I may have been," Fox said. "If you'd come in that period, I would have been very distracted."

It was his pinky finger; it wouldn't stop twitching. It would be a year before he found out why.

What did he know then of Parkinson's? "Somebody's grandmother had it. I mean, it was not a thing that I noticed or thought about as this 29-year-old guy."

"Did the doctor know who you were?"

"Yeah, and in fact, that is one of the few times in my life I felt like saying, 'Do you know who I am? This is ridiculous. You can't tell me that!'  This was a case when I just thought, this is preposterous that this is happening to me."

Actor Michael J. Fox with "Sunday Morning" host Jane Pauley.

 CBS NEWS

His slurred speech, muscle stiffness and tremors are the signature symptoms of the disease.

Fox's doctor told him, "'You have 10 years left to work. They're working on some things. There's some things in the pipeline.' … Little bit of hope, but it wasn't enough for me. I felt very shocked by it."

"Things like 'degenerative,' 'no cure'?" 

"Yeah, 'progressive.' All the stuff that now is just like irrelevant to me. I'm not about measuring how long something will last or Can I do this? and this terrible thing. I mean, it's just pointless. It's just another thing that you face and you carry on."

But there was a long, private struggle before he went public. "I took seven years between when I was diagnosed and when I went public with it. So, I took a long, selfish period of time when I just dealt with how it affected me and was concerned with me, and accent on me."

He revealed his diagnosis in 1998, and testified before Congress:

"As I began to understand what research might promise for the future, I became hopeful that I would not face the terrible suffering so many with Parkinson's endure. But I was shocked and frustrated to learn the amount of funding for Parkinson's research is so meager."

And in 2000 he went all-in. Fox formed a team to raise money targeted for research that would lead to improved treatments to slow, stop and reverse the progression of the disease -- and someday find a cure. To date the Michael J. Fox Foundation has raised more than $800 million from private donations. "Closing in on a billion, yeah!"

"It's predicated really on your impatience?" asked Pauley. 

"Yeah, well, I mean, as happy-go-lucky as I seem to be and as at-ease with this as I seem to be, I mean, it sucks. I hate it! And I wish I wasn't in this situation, but it's been one of the great gifts of my life that I've been in the position to take my view of the suckitude of it and merge it with other people's view of the suckitude of it and try to find an answer."

"You've heard this 1,000 times, but if couldn't have happened to a better person."

"Yeah, I mean, I'm getting used to that idea!"

No one here would argue, at a panel of men and women taking part in a Fox Foundation online database called Fox Insight, where patients join researchers in the quest for breakthroughs.

Typically a late-in-life disease, only 1 in 10 develops "early onset" Parkinson's like Fox did. 

Diagnosed about 25 years ago, Fox is the veteran in the room. Though Jim was diagnosed 18 years ago: "I was 29 when my symptoms started coming out, and 31 when I got the diagnosis," he said. 

Michael J. Fox with others participating in a Fox Foundation online database called Fox Insight.

 CBS NEWS

One participant, Claudia, explained the information she and others provide to the database: "You tell them, when your Parkinson's start? What was your first symptom? What types of symptoms do you get? What medications do you take? And the more information they get, the faster they'll get to a cure."

Fox says he's not expecting a cure in his lifetime, but he is expecting vastly-improved therapies. "And I'll take that in the short term.  The idea of finding that eureka! moment and the thing that cures it, I don't know that that'll happen in the next 20 years. But I do think we'll have therapies where it's a vast improved quality of life for people with Parkinson's."

Yet his own struggle is never far out of sight. 

Fox explained, "I mean, I'm also interacting with you in an intense way and I'm keyed up and I'm excited and engaged. And so that fires off all kinds of neurons and it gets all kinds of things happening. But the principal thing is the exchange, so I'm much less concerned with being still and not being collaborative and being engaged. I can make myself still, but I won't be as animated."

He demonstrated for Pauley when happens when he makes himself quiet, and still. 

"But we're not talking," she said. 

"I can't talk. I start to move."

"As soon as you start talking you start to move?"

"Well, because things are firing. I have to think. And the same neurons that fire my thinking fire my body." 

Fox is more than just the face of Parkinson's; with two bestselling memoirs, "Lucky Man" and "Always Looking Up," infused indomitable spirit and optimism, he's the face of hope.

Jennilynn, another Fox Insight participant, said, "It was actually his books that got me out of the first two years. I didn't plan for the future. I did nothing. I literally didn't even have a bank account, really. I had no idea how long I was going to be functional. But reading the books, like, there was a level of ferocious positivity and fierce optimism that got my fire lit again."

Now 57, Michael J. Fox is a grateful man. Married 30 years to actress Tracy Pollan, they have four children. And he's still a working and award-winning actor. 

Pauley asked, "Do you presume there's still special things ahead of you?"

"Oh yeah. Why sure, watch. Not the least of which, I think, is a breakthrough for Parkinson's. And I look forward to grandkids, and I look forward to weddings and I look forward to books."

"So, 50 years from now, do you think you'll be remembered for the 'Back to the Future' movies, or for a cure for Parkinson's?"

"I had a moment with somebody and they said, 'Someday there's gonna be a cure for Parkinson's and it's gonna be because of you.' And to me this was the first time that it really struck me. And I didn't -- and not that I took it seriously, but I feel part of something that is much more special -- if it happens it's much more special than any movie or any TV show."

      

For more info:

• For information on a new online clinical study to aid Parkinson's research go to Fox Insight
• Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

      

Story produced by Mary Raffalli.

To see  current Video:

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/michael-j-fox-on-helping-those-with-parkinsons/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-j-fox-working-towards-cure-for-parkinsons-one-of-the-great-gifts-of-my-life/