While this is a great breakthrough I would like to see the 5-10 year wait
shortened, it is very important that we support stem cell research funding
through the Parkinson Alliance, the Michael J Fox Foundation or any other
organization with curing PD as its mission
Giant Step Toward Parkinson's Cure
Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Rat Brains
By Daniel DeNoon
Jan. 7, 2002 -- In a potential breakthrough for Parkinson's disease, Harvard
researchers have found that early embryo cells can fix the brains of animals
with the disease.
Even with luck and a lot of hard work, it will be five to 10 years before
this is ready for human tests. Still, the finding is a giant step forward.
It points the way to treating -- and maybe curing -- Parkinson's patients
with stem cells grown in laboratories. Such cells already exist.
"Our goal has been to get stem cells to develop into particular kind of
cells -- the cells damaged in Parkinson's disease," study leader Ole
Isacson, MD, PhD, tells WebMD. "Now we have done this."
Isacson directs the Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center and the
Neuroregeneration Laboratory at Harvard University. He and co-workers
reported the findings in the Jan. 8 issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
The study shows that cells taken from mouse embryos turn into brain cells
when placed in rat brains. They don't just sit there: they hook up to the
brain and work like normal brain cells.
In Parkinson's disease, certain brain cells die off. These are the cells
that make dopamine, an extremely important chemical messenger that helps
nerves communicate. It is involved in many bodily activities, including
movement. If researchers kill dopamine cells in live rats, the animals lose
the ability to move properly -- just like people with Parkinson's disease.
When Isacson and co-workers gave these rats transplants of mouse embryo
cells, they regained normal movement.
"We've shown that the stem cells develop into brain cells with all the
characteristics of normal dopamine cells," Isacson says. "Furthermore, we've
shown that the cells secrete dopamine in response to the proper signals --
and that this results in behavioral changes."
Neurologist William C. Koller, MD, PhD, director of the Parkinson's Disease
Center at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla., calls the results a
major finding.
"This is a big step forward," Koller tells WebMD. "It is proof of concept
that this can eventually work in people. It is a pretty big deal."
Earlier studies showed that transplants of fetal brain cells could help
people with Parkinson's disease. But these cells didn't work very well,
Koller says. They were already too highly developed to hook up with
patients' brains.
Early embryonic cells don't have this problem. That's because they come from
recently fertilized eggs. They are so basic that they can be transplanted
without rejection by the immune system. One of the Isacson team's major
findings was that these cells -- when separated from each other -- grow into
brain cells all by themselves.
"This is one of the most elegant biological things I have ever seen,"
Isacson says.
There's a lot of daunting work ahead. One problem is that the embryonic
cells become different kinds of brain cells. Isacson's team is working on a
way to get even more of them to become the specific kind of brain cell that
Parkinson's patients need.
"I am very passionate about getting this to the patients, but there are
technical issues to solve," he says. "Just having a rocket doesn't mean you
can go to the moon. Our work convinces me that one day we can transplant
these cells to patients. To get there requires a lot of technical and
biological research. It is an enormous effort to make these things move
forward."
Stacey Downing
www.Bid4Cure.com
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