Cell transplants used to ward off Parkinson's symptoms

DENVER (April 17, 2002 6:44 p.m. EDT) - Doctors report they have had
long-term success implanting cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease
patients by passing a needle through the skull.

Dr. Ray Watts, professor of neurology at Emory University School of
Medicine in Atlanta, told the annual meeting of the American Academy of
Neurology on Wednesday that patients had improved motor function - movement
of their arms and legs - by up to 50 percent using this procedure.

Watts implanted retinal pigment epithelial cells, which are grown by the
millions after being removed from human donor retinas. These particular
cells produce dopamine, normally manufactured by neurons in the brain.
Levels of dopamine steadily decrease as Parkinson's progresses.

"This is the first human intracerebral retinal cell implantation study in
the world and we are encouraged by the results so far," Watts said.

"We've been following these six participants for over a year and we've
found they've improved, on average, nearly 50 percent in motor function."

Patients showed improvement in tremor, stiffness, slow movement and
balance, the most common motor functions affected by Parkinson's disease.
In addition, half of the participants showed improvement of dyskinesia -
involuntary movements that are a result of medications.

In the implantation procedure, doctors use brain imaging to select specific
sites to deposit the cells. Then they pass needles through the forehead and
top of the skull to implant the cells.

Although the incisions in the skull can be closed with either a single
suture or an ordinary adhesive bandage, Freed said, "any time you pass a
needle through the brain there can be complications."

Freed said in one case a fatal infection occurred. He said such infections
could be expected in one of every 500 needle passes. In his series of
patients, he has seen the infection once in more than 300 needle passes.

In another study, Dr. Curt Freed, professor of medicine at the University
of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, provided updated information
on 34 patients who have undergone fetal cell transplants of
dopamine-producing cells in the brain.

His patients have lived with the cell transplants for as long as eight
years - including a 58-year-old electrician who was working on the 34th
floor of North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 when the first
plane crashed into the upper floors of the building.

"He walked down 33 flights of stairs, emerging outside just minutes before
the second tower collapsed. He then ran eight blocks out of the debris
field and walked 3 miles to Penn Station in Midtown," Freed said. The
patient had been completely off medication, his well-documented Parkinson's
controlled only by those cells implanted in his brain, he added.

"Fetal cells are the best form of cells for this procedure," Freed said,
but acknowledged a lack of available fetal material - it takes the cells
harvested from the remains of four fetuses to supply enough cells to
implant in Parkinson's patients.

Freed said his study also appears to work best in younger patients - those
under age 60. Overall, such patients showed about a 40 percent improvement
in symptoms based on standard evaluation scales. Patients 60 and over
experienced a 15 percent overall improvement, he said.

The improvements appear to be about equal to those seen with standard
drugs, such as levodopa, the standard for Parkinson's. Freed said, however,
the effective time that levodopa works continually shrinks, requiring
higher doses of the medication with a risk of more severe side effects.

Watts said his patients also appear to reach the same level of improvement
seen with levodopa.

Using retinal pigment endothelial cells has advantages over fetal cell
transplants in that the cells can be grown in huge numbers, so fewer donor
organs are needed, Watts said, adding that cells from the eyes of donors
eliminates the controversy associated with using cells from aborted fetuses.

By ED SUSMAN, UPI Science News
Copyright 2001 Nando Media
Copyright 2002 United Press International
http://www.nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/366069p-2957913c.html

janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky
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smail: 375 Country Street, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0
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