Two Studies Show Progress In Stem Cell Treatment For Parkinson’s Disease
Individuals living with Parkinson’s disease may be able to find treatment from stem-cell transplants.
Two teams of researchers found that when stem cells are transplanted into the brains of individuals with Parkinson’s, the patients began to produce the chemical messenger dopamine and some symptoms were eased. The research was recently reported in the journal Nature.
“The results indicate that “now we have the potential to really, really halt this disease in its tracks,” says Dr. Mya Schiess, a neurology professor at UTHealth Houston.
The Food and Drug Administrations so far has cleared one of the stem-cell treatments for a Phase 3 study, which is the final step before receiving approval.
NPR reports that around 1 million people in the US are living with Parkinson’s. The disease impacts the brain and attacks the neurons that create dopamine, and once those neurons die, patients will experience a variety of disabling symptoms like tremors, fatigue, difficulty walking, and general cognitive issues.
One of the studies involved 12 people in the US and Canada who have the disease. Using a high dose of a stem-cell product from BlueRock Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Bayer, surgeons administered either a low or high dose to the participants.
“The idea is to place these neuron progenitors right where you need them to connect with other neurons in the brain,” says Dr. Viviane Tabar, a stem-cell scientist and chair of neurosurgery.
After 18 months, PET scans showed that the transplanted cells were producing dopamine. “For a typical Parkinson’s patient, you would expect every year to get two to three points worse,” says Dr. Lorenz Studer, who directs the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York and is a scientific adviser to BlueRock.
“The high dose group got about 20 points better.”
The low-dose group didn’t benefit as much, but they still showed improvement.
The second study was performed by researchers in Japan. The team induced pluripotent stem cells, derived from the patient’s own cells. Seven patients had their cells injected into both sides of their brains, and were shown to produce dopamine.
Dr. Studer said that this is a remarkable moment for medicine: “For us, it’s quite an exciting time finally seeing some of the fruit of our work.”
“One reason it’s taken so long, is that stem cells have the potential to become so many different kinds of cells. It takes just the right mix of chemicals at just the right time to produce a neuron that makes dopamine,” he says.
“It took us nearly 10 years to figure out the recipe, how to make specifically those dopamine cells. It took us another 10 years to have the product that we would dare to put into patients.”
These studies are the first steps towards what could be a tangible treatment to help patients who are suffering from this disease.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
