Excerpt from the December 1996 Parkinson's Action Network "Action Reporter",
an Advocacy Report for the Parkinson's Community-
Researchers Modify a Virus to Activate New Genes in Neural Cells
Scientists have begun testing genetically engineered viruses to
penetrate the brain's protective barriers and infuse ailing dopamine cells
with new genes to restore their health.
In one example at November's Society for Neuroscience meeting, New York
Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and Rockefeller University researchers
described success in using a modified virus, called an "adeno-associated
vector," to inject genes into an animal brain, producing evidence that new
genes are activated inside nerve cells.
The researchers eliminated most of the common toxic and inflammatory
side effects of the virus, but acknowledged that the virus still provokes an
immune response, as if it were an infectious disease.
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