Here's more in the continuing saga: ------------------ Rat model of Parkinson's disease corrected by gene therapy, UW-Madison's Jon Wolff reports Researchers at UW Medical School and the Waisman Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development have narrowed the search for a safe and effective treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD). Using a unique form of gene therapy developed at UW-Madison, they substantially and consistently reduced symptoms of the disease in rats. If successful in human patients, the technique may avoid serious problems associated with existing treatments for Parkinson's, said Jon A. Wolff, UW Medical School associate professor of pediatrics and medical genetics, who directed the research. Clinical trials may begin this year, he added. Wolff genetically engineered some rat muscle cells to express the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase, and then placed the cells inside the brains of rats. In that location, the enzyme causes muscle cell's own chemistry to produce L-DOPA, which alleviates the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder caused by the degeneration of certain brain cells. Wolff noted that transformed cells had worked in that way before, but the effects dropped off. In Wolff's latest research, published in the journal Nature April 1, the beneficial effects persisted. "The long-term ability of our muscle-cell gene transfer system to correct symptoms of Parkinson's disease in rats makes it an attractive candidate for treatment of the disease in humans," said Wolff, who also is director of biochemical genetics at the Waisman Center. His collaborator on the research was Shoushu Jiao, assistant scientist at the Waisman Center. Two years ago, Wolff gained national attention when he injected mouse muscle cells with DNA, and produced long-term expression of the test enzyme coded for by the DNA. Later, Wolff repeated the process with a gene for dystrophin, the enzyme lacking in muscular dystrophy patients. The Harvard Health Letter last year ranked his approach to gene therapy in muscular dystrophy one of the top 10 medical achievements of 1991. In his Parkinson research, Wolff postulated that the long-term enzyme expression of muscle cells would make them effective producers of L-DOPA in the brain. Both the muscle cells carrying the gene for tyrosine hydroxylase, and control-group cells engineered to produce other marker enzymes achieved expression in rat brains. Rats used as research models for Parkinson's exhibit an "asymmetrical rotational (staggering in circles)" behavior. Wolff successfully demonstrated that rats exhibiting the rotational behavior before the gene therapy procedure had greatly reduced expression of the behavior for up to 24 weeks. "The consistent ability of this muscle cell/gene transfer system to promote high levels of intracerebral transgene expression and substantially to reduce asymmetric rotational behavior in the rat PD model makes it an attractive candidate for clinical application," Wolff said. In other words, if similar procedures were effective in humans, patients suffering from Parkinson's could lead significantly better lives, with less uncontrolled movements, for years after treatments. The treatment also avoids ethical concerns that have been raised about the use of human fetal cells as implants to relieve Parkinson's symptoms. Research positions available Jon Wolff is looking for both research technicians and post-doctoral researchers to join his team. Contact Wolff at 608/263-5993. . ----------- Parkinson's disease in monozygotic twins. Jankovic J; Reches A Ann Neurol 19: 405-8 (1986) Abstract Recent studies of twins have demonstrated an unexpectedly low concordance of Parkinson's disease in monozygotic twins. Only two monozygotic twin pairs concordant for it have been reported. However, both pairs were atypical because of an early age at onset and other unusual features. We studied a monozygotic twin pair concordant for typical Parkinson's disease. The brothers have lived apart for forty years. The onset of tremor occurred three months apart, at age 71. The progression of the symptoms has been identical. Although one of the twins is more severely affected, both have typical manifestations of Parkinson's disease that respond well to dopaminergic medication. The occurrence of Parkinson's disease in these monozygotic twins suggests that genetic susceptibility is important in the tremor-dominant variety of Parkinson's disease. Mesh Headings Aged Antigens Case Report Diseases in Twins* Erythrocytes Human HLA Antigens Male Parkinson Disease* Phenotype Twins* Twins, Monozygotic* Unique Identifier: 86213829 ------------- Variant cytochrome P450 CYP2D6 allelic frequencies in Parkinson's disease. Kurth MC; Kurth JH Division of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ 85013. Am J Med Genet 48: 166-8 (1993) Abstract Aberrant detoxification of environmental agents may be the basis for an inherited predisposition to Parkinson's disease. A CYP2D6 genetic marker of the debrisoquine hydroxylase "poor metabolizer" phenotype was found to be significantly increased in Parkinson's disease patients compared to controls, as has been shown in previous studies. Presence of this marker gives an odds ratio of 1.86 for Parkinson's disease (95% confidence interval 1.33-2.39, P < 0.02). For comparison, a CYP1A1 polymorphism, which is not known to be associated with aberrant drug metabolism, showed no association with Parkinson's disease in our study. Mesh Headings Aged Aged, 80 and over Alleles* Cytochrome P-450* Gene Frequency* Genetic Markers Heterozygote Homozygote Human Middle Age Parkinson Disease* Phenotype Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Variation (Genetics)* Unique Identifier: 94121115 Chemical Identifiers (Names) (Genetic Markers) 9035-51-2 (Cytochrome P-450) ---------- that's all folks... for now! Wendy Tebay