During the Phase I study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and Rush-Presbyterian Medical Center in Chicago, scientists drilled holes in the skulls of 12 patients to inject a virus that carries a gene where it's needed.
Previous research has found that certain growth factors can slow or stop the death of dopamine-producing brain cells. A lack of dopamine causes Parkinson's symptoms that are characterized by tremors, rigidity, delayed movement and balance and coordination problems. Scientists are continually hunting ways to protect remaining dopamine-producing neurons, and rescue dying ones.
According to Scout News, researchers used multiple needle injections a modified virus (adeno-associated virus - AAV) to trigger off the growth factor gene neurturin directly into the striatum, the part of the brain most deficient in dopamine, a chemical crucial for the cellular signaling that controls muscle movement.
Researchers were elated to announce that none of the first 12 patients to undergo the experiment suffered serious side effects. A year after treatment, three patients showed no differences on a standard rating scale of movement but hopes are upbeat for the other nine who showed a 38 percent improvement.
Encouraged by the current findings, scientists are now hoping to embark upon Phase II of the study enrolling at least 56 more Parkinson's sufferers for the next stage of testing.
Doctors plan to use the same therapy partially in their skulls but no gene-carrying virus will be injected in a few of them to find if the experiment really works. Some 1.5 million Americans have Parkinson's, a disease that gradually destroys brain cells.
