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Will Parkies who get this procedure then be called PORKIES? (Please forgive me, I could not resist that!) [OO] LOOKING FOR RADIOS! Ken Becker [log in to unmask] On Thu, 27 Feb 1997, bob garrick wrote: > Pig Transplants May Help Parkinson's Patients > 04:57 p.m. Feb 27, 1997 EST > > WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Fetal pig cells have been successfully > transplanted into the brains of Parkinson's patients, a turning point in > cross-species transplantation and a possible advance toward treating the > common neurological disorder, scientists said Thursday. > > Other scientists have experimented with transplanting human brain cells > from aborted fetuses but the supply of such tissue is limited and > fraught with ethical complications. So researchers turned to pigs, > getting federal approval to do a cross-species transplant, which is rare > and controversial because of fears of transferring an animal disease > into the human population. > > Parkinson's afflicts roughly one million Americans and millions more > throughout the globe. For reasons not yet understood, they do not have > enough of the chemical dopamine in their brains and gradually develop > tremors and other motor problems. Drugs can slow the progression but > there is no cure. > > Twelve patients have had the pig cell transplant and early indications > are that the procedure is safe and the patients seem to benefit, > although it is too soon to know if the treatment will work indefinitely, > the researchers said. > > ``We have measured their activities, their daily living, their > complications,'' said Dr. James Shoemacher. ``We have seen measurable > improvements. And none has deteriorated.'' > > One of the 12 died of unrelated causes, giving scientists a chance to > study his brain in an autopsy. Shoemacher and his colleagues report > Friday in the journal Nature Medicine that the autopsy showed the > transplanted cells survived in the human brain and were producing > dopamine up to the patient's death. > > ``We found very clear evidence for surviving dopamine cells that had > grown and reconnected themselves with the patient's brain,'' Harvard > neuroscientist Ole Isacson said in a telephone interview. > > Although scientists have to be cautious in drawing conclusions based on > only one patient, the team said the results so far were encouraging. > > ``This is really the extension of a long scientific work in my > laboratory and others that show you can replace brain cells that have > died, and you can also do it between species,'' Isacson said. > > ``That creates a reasonable hope that in the future we can create > therapies that deal with the structure of the brain, and the brain can > accept new cells,'' he added. > > Although scientists worry about possibly introducing animal diseases > into humans via cross-species transplants, Isacson is confident the risk > is miniscule when using healthy pig nerve cells that have been > extensively screened. > > Another report in the same journal by Robin Weiss of the Institute of > Cancer Research in London says pig retroviruses can infect human cells > in laboratory cultures and replicate themselves. Those were cancer > cells, which are diseased, while Isacson's experiment used healthy > cells. > > > > Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and > redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the > prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any > errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance > thereon. >