|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
New Treatment in Battle Against Parkinson’s May Come
from Discovery
New protein appears to protect and rescue damaged
dopamine neurons
July 5, 2007 - A new drug to effectively treat the
debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease may emerge from the
discovery of a new protein that appears to protect and even repair
damaged dopamine neurons in an experimental model. Parkinson's disease
is a degenerative brain disease striking primarily older people and
characterized by the loss of dopamine neurons in the midbrain-area
called Substantia Nigra.
The research group led by professor Mart Saarma,
Director of the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, has
discovered a novel neurotrophic factor CDNF (Conserved Dopamine
Neurotrophic Factor).
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
Parkinson’s Disease Risks Lower with High Levels of
Urate in Blood
Large Harvard study finds potent antioxidant works
against oxidative stress
June 22, 2007
Parkinson’s Disease Treatment with Gene Therapy
Shows Promise
First such clinical trial may lead to effective
management of disease that hits mostly senior citizens
June 22, 2007
Engineers Say They Now Know How Brain Pacemakers
Help Parkinson’s Patients
Deep brain stimulation erases diseased messages for
thousands
May 31, 2007
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Diabetes, Mad Cow
Similar
at Molecular Level
Protein analysis may offer new diagnoses and
treatment options
April 30, 2007
Parkinson's Treatment Drugs Being Withdrawn, Says
FDA
Permax (pergolide) and two generic versions may
damage heart valves
March 29, 2007
Major Parkinson's Trial Begins Testing Energy
Booster's Ability to Slow the Disease
Creatine to be tested in 52 sites with 1,720
participants
March 22, 2007
Australians Claim Low-Cost Gene Screening for
Parkinson's Disease
Seeks people for gene-sequencing trial,
Australia-wide gene-mapping study
Feb. 23, 2007
Parkinson's Linked to Low LDL Cholesterol
that is Good for Heart
People with Parkinson's have lower rate of heart
attack and stroke
December 20, 2006
Cell Activities that
Protect against Alzheimer's Protein Buildup Found
Findings may lead to new therapies for
Neurodegenerative Diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
August 11, 2006
Researchers find 'Probable Cause' for Parkinson's,
Alzheimer's, other Brain Disorders
June 28, 2006
Read the latest news
on
Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health |
|
CDNF was successful in studies performed by the
research group of professor Raimo K. Tuominen, Faculty of Pharmacy,
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. More importantly, the
function of the neurons was recovered after an experimental lesion of
the dopamine neurons in Substantia Nigra.
The findings of this research may be of great
importance for the development of new treatment strategies for
Parkinson's disease. The results of this study will be published in
Nature on July 5th, 2007.
Approximately one percent of people aged over 60
get Parkinson's disease all over the World. The demographic change with
increasing number of elderly people will lead in doubling of the number
of Parkinsonian patients by 2030.
Typical symptoms in Parkinson's disease are those
of muscle rigidity, tremor, and slowness of movement. They are a
consequence of the degeneration of dopamine nerves projecting from
Substantia Nigra to Caudate Putamen (also called Striatum).
The clinical symptoms manifest when approximately
70 % of the dopamine nerves have been destroyed. Degeneration of the
dopamine nerves progresses slowly, and in time the difficulties in
movement becomes a major factor reducing the quality of life of these
patients.
Current drug treatment of Parkinson's disease aims
at increasing dopamine concentration and / or activation of dopamine
receptors in the brain. Due to the progression of the nerve degeneration
the drug therapy gradually becomes less effective.
Neurotrophic factors which could slow down or even
halt the progression of the degeneration of dopamine nerves have been in
the focus as a possible new treatment for Parkinson's disease. Glial
cell- line derived neurotrophic fctor (GDNF) is one example of such a
promising growth factor.
Indeed, it was shown to have beneficial effects in
a clinical trial in Parkinsonian patients suffering from severe
symptoms. However, due to adverse effects the clinical trials have been
stopped, even though some of the patients would have continued the
therapy. Even so, the clinical trials on GDNF gave the proof of concept
for the use of neurotrophic factorstreatment of neurodegenerative
diseases. Therefore it is very important to search for new growth
factors with similar efficacy as GDNF, but with better tolerability.
Conserved dopamine neurotrophic (CDNF) factor
discovered and characterized in this study is well conserved in the
evolution. It belongs to a CDNF/MANF family of proteins, which is the
first evolutionarily conserved family of neurotrophic factors having a
representative also in invertebrate animals (MANF = mesencephalic
astrocyte derived neurotrophic factor).
In an experimental model of Parkinson's disease, a
neurotoxin 6-OHDA was injected on one side of the brain into the
striatum of rats. This toxin causes a progressive degeneration of
dopamine nerves similar to that observed in Parkinsons disease. Upon
activation of dopamine nerves of the brain by drugs, these animals show
a movement disorder, a circling behaviour, which reflects an imbalance
of dopamine activity of the brain hemispheres.
A single injection of CDNF six hours before the
toxin delivery into the striatum significantly prevented the
degeneration of dopamine nerves in the brain and also the turning
behavior was normalized. When administered four weeks after the toxin,
situation mimicking a progression of the nerve degeneration in patients,
injection of CDNF into Striatum was able to prevent the degeneration of
dopaminergic neurons and cure the behavioral imbalance.
The results of the present study show that CDNF is
a very promising new neurotrophic factor with a significant
neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects on dopamine nerves in the
brain. It may have significant potential in the treatment of Parkinson's
disease in the future as a neuro protective or even neurorestorative
therapy.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
