Experimental cell promising for Parkinson's
NEW YORK, June 28, 1999 (Reuters Health) -- A team of scientists has
created a cell that closely mimics those cells damaged in Parkinson's
disease by genetically engineering primitive nervous system cells
derived from the brains of mice.
If the technique can also be used to produce human cells, researchers
hope that this could offer an unlimited source of cells for
transplantation, in contrast to the limited amounts of fetal tissue now
used for such transplants.
Parkinson's disease is caused by a destruction of the dopamine-producing
cells of the brain, which results in tremors, uncontrolled movements and
difficulty walking. While medication can control the symptoms,
eventually the drugs stop working. Previous studies have indicated that
replacing the damaged cells improves Parkinson's symptoms.
According to a report in the July issue of Nature Biotechnology, Dr.
Ernest Arenas of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and
colleagues may have discovered a way to produce large amounts of the
necessary brain cells, taken from mice, in the laboratory.
The researchers inserted a gene, Nurr1, which is required for the
development and survival of dopamine-producing nerve cells, into mouse
stem cells, which are immature cells that can give rise to different
types of nerve cells. While stem cells are derived from fetal tissue,
they can be grown indefinitely in the laboratory, cutting down on need
for embryonic tissue.
In the presence of another specialized nervous system cell, known as an
astrocyte, the engineered stem cells began producing dopamine.
Over 80% of the cells acted in a manner indistinguishable from the
normal, dopamine-producing cells found in mice, the investigators
report. And when the cells were injected into mice, they survived and
integrated into the brain, suggesting they were stable.
The technique could be used to produce a supply of human cells for
transplant into patients, according to the report.
Indeed, such cell replacement therapies ``may become of major clinical
importance in the treatment of human neurodegenerative disorders, many
of which now lack effective, or even ameliorating, therapies,''
according to an editorial by Dr. Olle Lindvall, of University Hospital
in Lund, Sweden.
``The findings of Arenas and colleagues represent an important step in
this direction,'' he writes. However, much more research is needed to
determine if they would be safe in humans, and stable enough to reduce
the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
SOURCE: Nature Biotechnology 1999;17:635-636, 653-659.
Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
<[log in to unmask]>
^^^
\ /
\ | / Today’s Research
\\ | // ...Tomorrow’s Cure
\ | /
\|/
```````
