Scientists Hail Parkinson’s Brain Cells
‘Breakthrough’
Very encouraging
and important research step to develop new treatments to halt or reverse
Parkinson’s disease.
Scientists are able to utilize skin
cells from a patient with Parkinson’s disease to generate brain nerve cells that
are affected by the disease to be able to see in great detail how Parkinson’s
develops. This step will enable scientists to study outside the brain the
affected brain cells and how these cells live, how they die and why they are
different.
This important breakthrough will
also make it easier and faster to test new drugs and therapies to slow or halt
progress of the disease. The goal is to find drugs that prevent the death of
these key brain cells that are ravished by Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Andrew Feigin, Center for
Neurosciences at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and also serves as a Director of the Board for
the Thomas Hartman Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Inc. states: This is an
important step because it may allow for more rapid screening of potential new
treatments, especially “Neuroprotective” Therapies (keeping key brain cells that
produce dopamine alive) to slow the progression of disease. That is, novel
treatments could be tested in the laboratory on actual Parkinson’s affected
brain cells, before moving the testing to human trials.
Major Parkinson’s Breakthrough: Message of Hope
Very promising results on a novel, cutting-edge Gene Therapy on Parkinson’s disease; Patients experience dramatic improvement in the tremors, rigidity and other motor skill problems that are hallmarks of the illness.
Dr. Michael Kaplitt, Weill Cornell Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery and Dr. Andrew Feigin, Center for Neurosciences at The Feinstein Institute both are Thomas Hartman Foundation for Parkinson’s Research Grant Recipients and Scientific Advisors for the Foundation. Dr. Kaplitt’s Gene Therapy with Dr. Feigin as Principal Investigator and Senior Author showed exciting replicated, confirmed results in this follow-up Phase 2 Clinical Trial which uses a harmless, inactive virus to deliver the GAD gene into the brain region of Parkinson’s patients which involves motor function. In patients with Parkinson’s disease, their brains get overactive after losing the normal supply of a chemical called GABA. This new treatment, gene therapy, works by inserting billons of copies of a gene into the patients’ brains that helps them produce more GABA. Dr. Feigin was responsible for the medical monitoring of these patients via Brain Imaging at The Feinstein Institute. This novel treatment is less invasive than Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy and can benefit many patients suffering from other Neurological Diseases.
Thomas Hartman Foundation Collaborative Scientific Research Program to Cure Parkinson's Disease: Click here (PDF)
Scientific Research Symposium
 
The Hartman Scientific Symposium was held at the
Feinstein Institute in Manhasset to celebrate some of
the recent Hartman Foundation grant recipients, including David Eidelberg, MD,
head of the Feinstein's Susan and Leonard Feinstein Center for Neurosciences and
a leading Parkinson's researcher. Dr. Eidelberg is also Chief Scientific
Advisor to the Thomas Hartman Foundation. The foundation awards grants annually
to Parkinson's researchers in an effort to identify new insights into disease
mechanisms and treatments.
On September 29th, Dr. David Eidelberg of The Feinstein
Institute was endowed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke as one of 11 Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease
Research.
At the symposium on October 7th, four world-renowned scientists
who have received Hartman Foundation funding discussed some of the latest
Parkinson's research findings. "This meeting brings together the scientific
leaders in the Parkinson's field," Dr. Eidelberg said. "Many outstanding
Parkinson's scientists have been recipients of support from the Hartman
Foundation. The Hartman Foundation
will seek to continue and grow its enthusiastic support of cutting edge research
in the field."
PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ADVANCES IN THE LAST 10 YEARS
DISCOVERY OF GENES FOR FAMILIAL PARKINSON'S DISEASE: Over the past decade, several gene defects causing rare familial forms of Parkinson's have emerged. Their resemblance to the common nongenetic form of Parkinson's lead many researchers to believe that investigating these rare cases will help acquire a better understanding as to how and why brain cells are dying in Parkinson's patients.
iPS TECHNOLOGY: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from skin, blood or endometrial lining are reprogrammed to grow dopaminergic neurons lost in Parkinson's Disease. These stem cells will be utilized to determine therapeutic and potential usefulness to search for mechanisms of degeneration and for drug testing.
NEUROINFLAMMATION IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE: Toxicity and Oxidative Stress lead to cell death. Intense clinical basic researchers have shown that such inflammatory events may well contribute to the onset of Parkinson's and/or exacerbates its progression.
MITOCHONDRIAL BIOLOGY: Critical findings have lead to the exciting new hypothesis that in Parkinson's it might exist that a progressive accumulation of defective mitochondria in brain cells, which, in turn, produce disastrous consequences including death of brain cells.
PARKINSON'S DISEASE CLASSIFIED IN STAGES: Recognition that the Parkinson's Disease process moves through the brain slowly-work of Heiko Braak-6 stages of Parkinson's Disease.
RECOGNITION THAT NON-MOTOR MANIFESTATIONS OF PARKINSON'S ARE COMMON: These non-motor manifestations occur much earlier than motor manifestations of Parkinson's. Early screening and detection will enable resultant therapies to stop the progression of the disease.
DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION: Recognition that Deep Brain Stimulation surgery is a reliable way to extend useful motor function in the later stages of Parkinson's when medications lose their effectiveness and side effects are worse than the disease itself.
FUNCTIONAL IMAGING AND PARKINSON'S DISEASE: Recognition that it is possible to identify Parkinson's Disease from other Parkinsonian conditions for proper diagnosis and treatment. Imaging also shows if medications are having a positive or a negative effect.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW MOUSE MODELS: Mouse models that give insight in LRRK2 genetic mutations, which is the potential cause of Parkinson's, to enable new treatments to be brought to the bedside. |
