Major new lead for Parkinson's treatment
A major lead for potential new treatments for Parkinson's has been discovered by UK researchers in a study funded by the Parkinson's Disease Society.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Sheffield and published online by the journal 'Nature Neuroscience' this week, identified a pathway inside nerve cells that could be stimulated to protect the dying cells affected by Parkinson's.
Image: Dr Alex Whitworth, University of Sheffield
Parkinson's is caused by the progressive death of specific nerve cells inside the brain that produce dopamine - a chemical messenger that controls the co-ordination of movement.
How the study worked
The discovery of this pathway may be the key to developing new drugs that could slow or even stop the progressive loss of nerve cells in the brain.
Dr Kieran Breen, Director of Research and Development, Parkinson's Disease Society
Using both fruit fly models and skin cells from people with Parkinson's, the researchers identified a common pathway inside the cells that can be stimulated to prevent cell death in inherited forms of the condition.
Pathways are control systems which operate inside the cell that regulate all aspects of cell functions including determining whether they live or die.
In the study the drug Rapamycin was shown to protect cells against the damaging effects of two of the mutant genes that cause inherited forms of Parkinson's. But this particular drug comes with the serious risk of a weakened immune system, so is very unlikely to be used to treat Parkinson's directly.
Dr Alex Whitworth, who led the research team at the University of Sheffield, said:
"Although Rapamycin is not a 'wonder drug' for treating Parkinson's, our study does show that the animal and human models that we used may be a valuable tool in the discovery of new drugs for directly treating the condition."Exciting new development
Dr Kieran Breen, Director of Research and Development at the Parkinson's Disease Society, said:
"This is an exciting new development in the search for new and better treatments for Parkinson's. Current treatments can only replace or mimic the effects of dopamine, rather than actually change the course of the condition.
"It's early days yet, and there's a great deal of work to be done before we will know if these findings can be applied to all forms of Parkinson's. But the discovery of this pathway may be the key to developing new drugs that could slow or even stop the progressive loss of nerve cells in the brain.
"At the Parkinson's Disease Society we are passionate about finding a cure and better treatments for people with Parkinson's. This is a major step forward for this goal."
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