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I hate it when only specific parts of articles are picked and quoted. In my morning newspaper there is ,in the same previously quoted article , a statement which would certainly make me take it with a grain of salt. Since our PD is not chemically induced and since the brains of monkeys are not the same as humans, this make persons grasping for straws only hope for something which ,more than likely will never happen. I think this is cruel to publish such hopeful things to the public, and I think researchers only do it to try to get more research money. They should have held this article until it went to the FDA and was approved by them for testing. I quote from the same article: Dr. Mark Tuszynski, head of a brain-disorder research center at the University of California at San Diego, said the experiment in monkeys was "fascinating". He said, however, that it is not known whether the brain cells affected by the chemically induced Parkinson's in monkeys are precisely the same as those affected by the actual disease in humans. It continues: Kordower said a separate safety study is under way in monkeys, and when that is completed in about six months an application for human clinical trials will be prepared for presentation to the Food and Drug Administration. If all of the studies go smoothly, said Kordower, the gene therapy could be ready for human testing in three to five years. At 09:00 AM 10/27/2000 -0400, you wrote: >Gene therapy used to turn back clock on Parkinson's > >(October 27, 2000 12:01 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Researchers >at a Chicago medical center have successfully used gene therapy to reverse >the damage of Parkinson's disease in the brains of aged monkeys, and to >stop the progression of the disease in its early stages in younger animals. > >By inserting a gene that increases the production of the chemical nerve >transmitter dopamine directly into the animals' brains, scientists at >Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center and Lausanne University in >Switzerland were able to significantly reverse the cellular brain damage. > >Doctors now usually try to make up for the loss of dopamine with a drug >that helps the brain produce it, but the effect eventually wears off. Some >success has been achieved by grafting fetal nerve tissue into brains of >Parkinson's patients, but this doesn't stop the loss of the original cells. >The big hope lies in some way of stopping the loss of the critical >dopamine-producing cells before the disease advances too far. > >"The study suggests a new approach to forestall disease progression in >newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease patients," said Jeffrey Kordower, >director of the Research Center for Brain Repair at Rush and lead author of >a report on the research published in the journal Science on Friday. > >Key to the treatment is a special virus, called lenti-GDNF, developed by >Swiss researchers, that can deliver the gene for glial-derived neurotrophic >factor into the brains of the primates. > >Kordower said it is expected that clinical testing of the lenti viral >delivery system for GDNF on humans will begin in Switzerland and the United >States in less than five years, depending on the outcome of a safety review >by the Food and Drug Administration. > >Parkinson's is a slowly progressive disease that degenerates a small part >of the mid-brain called the substantia nigra, which causes production of >dopamine to slump. That chemical sends signals in the brain that allows >people to move smoothly. > >The disease can cause tremors, limb stiffness, balance and gait problems, >and contribute to dementia. Parkinson's affects nearly 1 million Americans, >most of them over the age of 60, although some people develop the disease >much earlier. The cause of the disease is unknown, but thought to have both >genetic and environmental factors. There is no known cure. > >In the study, researchers found that the GDNF gene not only boosted >dopamine production, but also the production of GDNF itself, a nutrient >that strengthens and protects the brain cells that die due to Parkinson's. > >Two groups of monkeys were tested. The first group of eight monkeys, each >about 25 years old, all had brains that displayed cellular changes >associated with early Parkinson's - the cells are still intact, but have >either stopped making dopamine or are making very little. They got six >injections of the special delivery virus, lenti-GDNF. > >After three months of treatment, tests showed a dramatic increase in >dopamine production, similar to the levels found in the brains of young >monkeys. > >The second group consisted of 20 young adult monkeys with no symptoms. >These primates had been trained to perform a specific hand-reach task for a >food reward. They were given a chemical that initiates Parkinson's-like >symptoms, then were retested, and then treated with lenti-GDNF. > >The animals showed great difficulty in performing the tasks after receiving >the chemical. Following three months of treatment, their performance >returned to near-normal. Brain scans showed the treatment had completely >prevented degeneration of the monkeys' dopamine-producing system, with >brain cells and their fibers preserved. > > >By LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service >Copyright 2000 Nando Media >Copyright 2000 Scripps Howard News Service > >http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500273007-500426081-50266605 >2-0,00.html > >janet paterson >53 now / 44 dx cd / 43 onset cd / 41 dx pd / 37 onset pd >TEL: 613 256 8340 URL: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ >EMAIL: [log in to unmask] SMAIL: PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada