KYOTO University in Japan announced a major step forward in efforts to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. They say they’ve successfully transplanted iPS cells into a patient brain, and the patient is doing well after the clinical trial surgery. The nerve cells transplanted into the patient’s brain were created using iPS cells derived from people who had types of immunity that made them less prone to rejecting transplants. 2.4 million dopamine precursor cells were implanted into the brain of a patient in his 50s. In the three-hour procedure, the team deposited the cells into 12 sites, known to be centers of dopamine activity.
The nerve cells are expected to supplement dopamine-emitting neurons. During a course of treatment that will be monitored for two years, immune suppressor drugs will be injected to reduce the possibility of rejections.
Parkinson’s disease affects millions of people worldwide. Although the symptoms can be treated, there is no known cure. Parkinson’s disease usually affects people aged 50 and over, but it can strike younger people as well. It is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. The disease is caused by an abnormality in nerve cells that produce the chemical dopamine. Normal nerve cells deliver instructions from the brain to the other parts of the body by transmitting dopamine. Although the exact cause is unknown, some dopamine-producing cells stop functioning normally.
The symptoms generally come on slowly over time. An estimated 150,000 people have the disease in Japan. Patients gradually lose the ability to move, and it’s not uncommon for them to become bedridden.
While a number of different approaches to this disease have been studied for decades, nothing has proven so far particularly successful in slowing its progression.
