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New Cure Parkinson’s Disease

What Will A Cure For Parkinson’s Look Like

Trial of new treatment for Parkinson’s disease | 7.30

Parkinson’s varies so much from person to person. There are over 40 symptoms of Parkinsons. Tremor. Pain. Hallucinations. Everyones experience is different.

Because of this, there may not be a single ‘cure’.

Instead, we may need a range of different therapies to meet the needs of the individual and their specific form of the condition.

This mix may include treatments, therapies and strategies that can:

  • slow or stop the progression of the condition
  • replace or repair lost or damaged brain cells
  • control and manage particular symptoms
  • diagnose Parkinson’s at the earliest possible stage.

And this could involve medical treatments, such as drugs and surgical approaches, as well as lifestyle changes, for example to diet and exercise.

Medical Moment: A New Treatment For Parkinsons

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Around one million people in the U.S. live with Parkinsons disease.

Levodopa is the most effective drug available, but the drug can cause side effects, and after several years, the effectiveness of Levodopa can wane and higher dose patients may develop dyskinesia, or involuntary, erratic movements.

Now, a new drug, currently in clinical trials, may reduce these unpleasant side effects while lengthening the time patients have relief of their symptoms.

70-year-old Wayne Holt has been living with Parkinsons disease for 21 years.

I used to be a racquetball player and I couldnt keep up with the ball anymore, Holt said. I decided I needed to find a sport where the ball sits still until I hit it.

Holt first noticed his Parkinsons symptoms when he was at lunch with a friend.

When I lift my drinking glass, my hand really had a tremor to it, Holt recalled.

Parkinsonian tremors are due to too much brake and not enough gas. When people try to do personal movement, they get shaking because the brake is being applied as theyre trying to apply the gas, said Craig Lindsley, PhD, a director at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery.

But researchers are testing a new drug called AP472.

This is really different because its not dopamine replacement therapy, Dr. Lindsley said. Were targeting this overactive synapse and bringing that gas and brake back into balance.

For Holt, who suffers with dyskinesia, a drug like this can be a game-changer.

What We Know So Far

  • We’ve uncovered clues to the causes and genetic involvement in Parkinson’s.
  • We’re figuring out the chain of events that leads to the damage and loss of brain cells.
  • We’re working to advance new treatments and therapies.
  • We’re exploring repurposing drugs to help manage some of the more distressing symptoms, like hallucinations and falls.
  • And we know that, although people with Parkinson’s share symptoms, each person’s experience of the condition and response to treatment is different.

Now, the science is ready for us to develop the new treatments and cure that people with Parkinson’s so desperately need.

Research takes time but if you have Parkinsons, you need better treatments now. Thats why weve launched the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech to speed up the most promising potential treatments. The more we can invest, the sooner we’ll get there.

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What Will A Cure For Parkinsons Look Like

Parkinsons varies so much from person to person. There are over 40 symptoms of Parkinsons. Tremor. Pain. Hallucinations. Everyones experience is different.

Because of this, there may not be a single cure.

Instead we may need a range of different therapies to meet the needs of the individual and their specific form of the condition.

This mix may include treatments, therapies and strategies that can:

  • slow or stop the progression of the condition
  • replace or repair lost or damaged brain cells
  • control and manage particular symptoms
  • diagnose Parkinsons at the earliest possible stage.

And this could involve medical treatments, such as drugs and surgical approaches, as well as lifestyle changes, for example to diet and exercise.

What Are Surgery Options For Parkinsons Disease

New treatment for Parkinson

Depending upon your needs, medical history, health, and symptoms, one of the following procedures may be considered for Parkinsons disease:

There are many other procedures being researched. One of the most promising involves the transplantation of fetal dopamine neurons into the brains of people with Parkinsons disease. The hope is that these cells will be able to re-grow the damaged dopamine-producing nerve cells.

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How Were Speeding Up The Search For A Cure

We believe that new and better treatments are possible in years, not decades. We have a clear strategy for making this happen. This includes:

New Treatment For Parkinsons Disease

This fall, the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital expects to introduce a previously unavailable form of treatment for Parkinsons disease patients. Although the treatment will be limited to patients who fulfill specific criteria, the treatment has been shown to be effective in Europe, where it has been available for more than a decade.

The treatment involves administering the drug Duodopa directly into the patients small intestine via the stomach through a tube. The drugs dosage is controlled by a mini-pump weighing about half a kilogram that the patient wears at the waist. The body transforms levodopa to dopamine to increase the amount of dopamine in the brain. Parkinsons disease symptoms are linked to dopamine levels. Carbidopa helps to guide levodopa to the brain and also helps to avoid stomach upset and other undesirable side effects of levodopa.

The benefit of the Duodopa treatment is that the patient gets the drug continuously and so avoids the kinds of fluctuations that can come when drugs are taken orally at intervals during the day. Some patients have difficulty swallowing, and with this treatment, theres no need to swallow, says Dr. Anne-Louise Lafontaine, a neurologist and Director at The Neuros Movement Disorder Clinic.

Not all Parkinsons disease patients will qualify for the treatment.

This article was submitted by Neuro staff

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Advances In Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation is another established treatment for PD that is useful in treating dopamine-dependent motor symptoms when levodopa-induced side effects become particularly problematic. DBS involves the surgical implantation of electrodes that stimulate subcortical structures including the subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus internus9194. DBS offers significant improvements in motor symptoms and fluctuations in comparison to best medical therapy in some advanced PD patients, but dopamine-resistant symptoms other than tremor respond poorly95. It has also been suggested in an open-label trial that DBS is beneficial in early PD patients, with improved tremor scores and reduced development ofde novo tremor96. In addition to surgical complications, DBS strategies may cause cognitive and neuropsychiatric adverse effects as well as speech dysfunction. Novel DBS approaches, including adaptive DBS, targeting different regions, and refined intra-operative imaging techniques promise to offer improved clinical applicability and reduce the impact of adverse effects97.

Why Scientists Believe Theyve Made New Breakthrough In Parkinsons Disease Treatment By Building On Gdnf Research

‘Miracle’ Parkinson’s treatment to be trialled in Australia | 7NEWS

The Finnish researchers are now working to improve the properties of BT13 to make it more effective as a potential treatment that could benefit many people living with the disease.

The study, which was published online yesterday in the journal Movement Disorders, builds on previous research on another molecule that targets the same receptors in the brain.

GDNF or glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor is an experimental treatment for Parkinsons discovered in 1993 that has been shown to bring dying brain cells back to life and particularly effective in dopamine neurons.

It was the subject of a BBC documentary in February 2019 that followed a phase two trial in Bristol involving 42 patients. While the results werent clear cut, GDNF has shown promise to restore damaged cells in people with Parkinsons.

However, the GDNF protein requires complex robot-assisted surgery to deliver the treatment to the brain because its a large molecule that cant cross the blood-brain barrier a protective wall that prevents some drugs from getting into the brain.

BT13 is a smaller molecule that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and therefore could be more easily administered as a treatment if shown to be beneficial in further clinical trials.

Dr Yulia Sidorova, lead researcher on the study, said: We are constantly working on improving the effectiveness of BT13.

Our ultimate goal is to progress these compounds to clinical trials in a few coming years.

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New Form Of Drug Helping Some Patients With Parkinsons Disease

For more than 40 years, a drug called levodopa has been the most effective treatment for the uncontrolled movements associated with Parkinsons disease. Many Parkinsons patients have taken a pill form of the medicine also known as L-dopa for years to control their motor fluctuations.

But the pills can lose effectiveness over time, greatly reducing their value for people in the later stages of the disease.

Now theres a new form of the drug that is making a positive difference for some Parkinsons patients. Duopa is a drug thats delivered continuously by a pump system instead of pills.

This takes care of the fluctuations in the movement symptoms that advanced Parkinsons patients experience on a daily basis, and they dont have to rely on pills while the pump is on, said movement disorders specialist Dr. Mustafa Saad Siddiqui, an associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist. It can mean a very significant improvement in the quality of life of these patients.

Parkinsons disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that helps people control body movements. While tremors are the best-known sign of Parkinson’s, it can also cause muscle rigidity and slowing of movement. There is no cure for the disease, which afflicts approximately 1 million people in the United States, including actor Michael J. Fox and boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

Foods High In Saturated Fat

The role that foods high in saturated fats play in Parkinsons progression is still under investigation and is often conflicting. We might eventually discover that there are certain types of saturated fats that actually help people with Parkinsons.

Some limited research does show that ketogenic, low-protein diets were beneficial for some with Parkinsons. Other research finds high saturated fat intake worsened risk.

But in general, foods that have been fried or heavily processed alter your metabolism, increase blood pressure, and impact your cholesterol. None of those things are good for your body, especially if youre trying to treat Parkinsons.

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Parkinsons Protein Blueprint Could Help Fast

Researchers have solved a decade-long mystery about a critical protein linked to Parkinsons disease that could help to fast-track treatments for the incurable disease.

The research, published in Nature, has for the first time produced a live action view of the protein, called PINK1, in exquisite molecular detail.

The discovery explains how the protein is activated in the cell, where it is responsible for initiating the removal and replacement of damaged mitochondria. When the protein is not working correctly, it can starve brain cells of energy, causing them to malfunction and in the long term die, as happens to dopamine-producing cells in Parkinsons disease.

The discovery is the culmination of a project spanning eight years and provides the first detailed blueprint for the discovery and development of therapeutic agents that could help to slow or even stop the progression of Parkinsons disease.

Led by PhD student Mr Zhong Yan Gan and Professor David Komander, the multidisciplinary team at WEHI used innovative cryo-electron microscopy facilities and research to make the discovery.

Restoration Of Dopaminergic Deficits

Parkinson

Treatment of many of the motor symptoms of PD can be achieved through restoration of striatal dopaminergic tone. This may be accomplished through targeted delivery of dopamine-producing cells, or the use of viruses to deliver genes encoding the enzymes required for dopamine biosynthesis into the striatum. Targeting these regenerative treatments to the striatum, the site of greatest dopamine loss in PD, would minimize the off-target effects seen with oral dopamine-replacement.

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New Hope For Treatment Of Parkinsons Disease: Designer Neurons

The new research describes the implantation of induced pluripotent stem cells to replace dopamine-producing neurons destroyed by Parkinsons disease. Such cells not only survive the grafting procedure and manufacture dopamine, but send out their branching fibers through the neural tissue to make distant connections in the brain, just like their naturally-occurring counterparts. Credit: Shireen Dooling for the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

Neurodegenerative diseases cause neuronal damage and destruction, wreaking havoc on both mental and physical health. Parkinsons disease, which affects over 10 million people worldwide, is no exception. The most noticeable symptoms of Parkinsons disease arise after the illness damages a specific class of neuron located in the midbrain. The result is that dopamine, a key neurotransmitter produced by the affected neurons, is depleted in the brain.

In new research, Jeffrey Kordower and his colleagues describe a method for converting non-neuronal cells into functioning neurons able to take up residence in the brain, send out their fibrous branches across neural tissue, form synapses, dispense dopamine and restore capacities compromised by Parkinsons destruction of dopaminergic cells.

The work is supported through a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

New perspectives on Parkinsons disease

Neural alchemy

An Open Letter To My Neurologist

Former Parkinsons News Today columnist Sherri Woodbridge wrote about the power of gratitude several years ago while reviewing a book called Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life, by Angeles Arrien. Arrien argues that gratitude is a choice.

One thing I find compelling about Woodbridges experience with gratitude is her observation that it requires practice. One must cultivate a mindset that gravitates toward gratitude it isnt something that occurs on its own.

Knowing this, Ive decided to cultivate my own sense of gratitude as one of my New Years resolutions. Some people use a journal to focus their attention on gratitude. I hope to meditate regularly on the things Im grateful for.

Today and every day, Im grateful to have time with my parents. Parkinsons disease, which my dad has, is a relentless thief. If we must walk this journey, I will be grateful for every day my dad chooses to fight back. I know he could be pessimistic about it and succumb to his circumstances, but he remains consistent and unwavering against this disease. For that, Im extremely grateful.

When we are confronted with so much loss, I think its important to note what weve gained and where weve seen success. In our lives, Dad is back to a diligent exercise routine, and it shows. He looks strong, determined, and willing to do what he can to keep Parkinsons at bay.

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Changing The Course Of Parkinsons

As a world-leading Parkinsons research supporter since 1957, trailblazing discoveries aimed at easing, curing and preventing the disease drive us forward. While the cause of Parkinsons is still unknown, through a history of strategic research investments of more than $400 million, we steer transformative progress to help uncover the mystery of this disease.

Parkinsons Foundation research funding has led to breakthroughs, including:

  • The discovery of alpha-synuclein the first gene associated with Parkinsons.
  • The first standard tools to measure Parkinsons progression the Hoehn and Yahr scale.
  • Publishing the first double-blind clinical trial of carbidopa/levodopa in collaboration with Merck, Inc.
  • Developing the Unified Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale, now widely used in PD research and clinical trials.

The PD community continues to fuel the Foundations growth. Support of the Reach Further initiative helps us boost investments in leading-edge PD research and allows us to build on 60 years of funding pioneering scientific progress, a legacy that includes:

New Treatment Provides Freedom For Patient

New treatments for Parkinson’s disease

Two advocates of Duopa are Parkinsons patient George Connors and his wife, Kay, of Randleman, North Carolina.

Among the first participants in the clinical trial at Wake Forest Baptist, he has been taking Duopa for more than 5 years now.

Its been a lifesaver, his wife said. It has made it easier for him to get up and do things.

Kay said the unreliable action of levodopa pills made it difficult for her husband to pursue activities he loved. But with Duopa, she said, he goes fishing, mows the yard and does outside work, all without having to remember when to take the pills.

George gave one example of how Duopa works better for him than pills. He said it used to take him as much as an hour each morning to stand up properly because his toes would cramp overnight and the levodopa pills were slow to work. With the Duopa pump system, he said, his toe cramps are gone within minutes.

Siddiqui said that new drugs and new delivery methods for existing drugs can relieve many of the symptoms experienced by people with Parkinsons and that ongoing research holds hope for the future.

Out of all the neurological diseases, we are finding Parkinsons to have more and more treatments available, he said.

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