Genetic mutation, inability to respond to growth factors and aging
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany have studied the survival of dopaminergic nervous cells (the ones that die in Parkinson's disease) in mice in order to establish the factors responsible for their death. They have discovered that they die only when three factors co-exist:
- genetic mutation (their mice carried a mutation of gene DJ-1, also known as PARK-7 in view of its involvement in Parkinson's disease),
- inability to respond to growth factors (in their laboratory GDNF, a neurotrophic factor derived from glia i.e. from neuron support cells), because the receptors for them had disappeared from their membrane
- aging: the cells died only when the mice became elderly
The discovery is important, because the availability of growth factors depends on environmental factors. This discovery supports the well known theory that Parkinson’s disease is due to the interaction of genetic and environmental factors.
Source: press release on the site of the Max Planck Institute in Germany
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The results of an international study in 13 countries
A clinical trial was carried out comparing the dopamine agonist pramipexole and placebo in 12 European countries, including Italy, and in South Africa. Allocation to one of the two treatments was random and organized in such a way that neither the patient nor the doctor knew what had been allocated (“double-blind randomization”). The study population included 323 patients with Parkinson’s disease, on stable anti-parkinson medications and depression documented by the score on two scales for the assessment of depressive symptoms: the Geriatric depression scale and the specific item of the UPDRS scale, the international unified scale for the assessment of the severity of the disease. The score related to depression diminished to a significantly greater degree with pramipexole than with placebo (Beck’s depression score on average -5.9 vs -4.0 p=0.01); also the motor score improved more with pramipexole (mean UPDRS -4.4 vs -2.2 p=0.003).
Barone P et al Lancet Neurol online 10 maggio 2010
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According to the authors more than 50% of patients may have experienced more than 50% motor function improvement
 Researchers in Peru collected stem cells of unspecified type from the bone marrow of 53 patients with Parkinson’s disease (37 men and 16 women, age 38-81 years, duration of disease 1-25 years) and reintroduced them via an intra-arterial catheter into the arteries that supply blood to the substantia nigra in the brain, the area affected by the disease.
The patients were followed-up on average for 7 months.
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