Monkeys with Parkinsons's Disease Benefit from Human Stem Cells
Parkinson's disease is a chronic and progressive movement disorder. It degenerates a specific type of cells in the brain known as dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Parkinson's disease symptoms include tremors, slowed movement, rigid muscles, impaired posture and balance, loss of automatic movements, speech changes, and writing changes. There is no cure, but medication or possible surgery could improve symptoms. Although controversial, studies of shown the transplantation of DA neurons made from fetal cells can mitigate the disease.
Professor Takahashi, a neurosurgeon specializing in Parkinson's disease, plans to use induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells to make DA neurons. iPS cells can be made from blood or skin. Once the cells were obtained and standardized to only use the best cells, they were tested for safety and effectiveness in the brains of monkeys. DA neurons were made from different iPS cell lines; some were made from healthy donors and others were made from patients with Parkinson's disease. The study says that it is assumed that the outcome will depend on the number of transplanted cells, but it was found that the better quality cells were more important. The quality of donor cells had the largest effect on the DA neuron survival.
A feature of the study that is expected to extend the clinical study is the method used to evaluate cell survival in the host brains. The study showed that MRI and PET scans are options for evaluating the patient post surgery. A non-invasive method is preferred because patients have to be regularly observed. For the transplant to succeed, the donor and patient must have matching human leukocyte antigens (HLA) to prevent rejection.
They also reported a strategy that improves the survival of the transplanted cell in monkeys. The equivalent of HLA in monkeys is MHC. A study shows that the dopamine neurons derived from matched monkey iPS cells stimulate far less neuroinflammation when transplanted that from monkeys of unmatched iPS cells.
These findings did not eliminate the need for immunosuppressants, but it did lower the dosage, which lowers the risk of infection. These findings will also improve outcomes in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/parkinsons-disease/basics/symptoms/con-20028488
Professor Takahashi, a neurosurgeon specializing in Parkinson's disease, plans to use induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells to make DA neurons. iPS cells can be made from blood or skin. Once the cells were obtained and standardized to only use the best cells, they were tested for safety and effectiveness in the brains of monkeys. DA neurons were made from different iPS cell lines; some were made from healthy donors and others were made from patients with Parkinson's disease. The study says that it is assumed that the outcome will depend on the number of transplanted cells, but it was found that the better quality cells were more important. The quality of donor cells had the largest effect on the DA neuron survival.
A feature of the study that is expected to extend the clinical study is the method used to evaluate cell survival in the host brains. The study showed that MRI and PET scans are options for evaluating the patient post surgery. A non-invasive method is preferred because patients have to be regularly observed. For the transplant to succeed, the donor and patient must have matching human leukocyte antigens (HLA) to prevent rejection.
They also reported a strategy that improves the survival of the transplanted cell in monkeys. The equivalent of HLA in monkeys is MHC. A study shows that the dopamine neurons derived from matched monkey iPS cells stimulate far less neuroinflammation when transplanted that from monkeys of unmatched iPS cells.
These findings did not eliminate the need for immunosuppressants, but it did lower the dosage, which lowers the risk of infection. These findings will also improve outcomes in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
Lindvall, O., Kokaia, Z.,
& Martinez-Serrano, A. (2004). Stem cell therapy for human
neurodegenerative disorders-how to make it work. Nature medicine, 10(7), S42.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/parkinsons-disease/basics/symptoms/con-20028488
WOW! I want to first say your blog post is very interesting to me. With knowing and being close to people who suffer from Parkinsons's Disease, it makes me so happy to see the studies being done. I think it sucks that there is no cure yet. However, with more and more research being conducted I can only hope that one day there will be a cure!
ReplyDeleteI want to start by saying that monkeys are my favorite animals and I did not know that they could even contract Parkinson's disease. I have recently read about Parkinson's disease so I'm am quite of aware of the physiological changes and the many different symptoms experienced by those who have Parkinson's disease. The changes that occur in the human brain that result when an individual has Parkinson's disease are quite complex, I'm surprised the brain of a monkey can undergo the same changes.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that monkeys could be diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but it makes sense considering that they are closely related to humans. The fact that the need for immunosuppressants was lowered is a great move forward for people hoping to cure their Parkinson's disease. This finding is great and I was excited to read this!
ReplyDeleteReally liked your entry, it was very to the point but not clipped and dull. Since this paper was published in 2004 I wonder how far this particular researcher has progressed or if the knowledge has been expanded upon yet and if so by how much.
ReplyDeleteI think it is awesome how we can use animals to study diseases in humans. This is a very interesting topic and it is always intriguing to me to see how much we really do have in common with primates. I cant wait to see what else we will be able to discover with using animals as research tools.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather developed Parkinson's disease and died with complications related to it, so I was fascinated with your post describing some of the cutting-edge research being done on the subject. That is very exciting and promising that the monkeys showed improvements with the DA neuron implantation. As a future physician, I find it amazing that not only will I be able to implement the medical knowledge already gained thus far, but I can seek to add to and better the procedures and treatments available. Certainly nothing makes a doctor more happy than seeing patients have better outcomes.
ReplyDeleteI think what is interesting about this is the ability for the monkeys to get benefits from peoples stem cells. This makes me think it could possibly work both ways. If there is a need for this kind of material then researching which species are comparable can give us some insight about how similar we are and it could assist the medical field as well.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought how bad it was that we suffer from certain treatments specifically immunosuppressants. These help us survive but also weaken our defenses to new battles. This is an amazing stride if we can keep ourselves strong and fight our current conditions.
I love the response this post generated. Nice work.
ReplyDelete