Re: Altered cells deliver Parkinson's therapy to brain

[rayilynlee <rayilynlee@xxxxxxx>]

The guy who cloned Dolly the sheep wants to go ahead with human trials on
people who are going to die soon anyway.  He thinks we will have to wait too
long if we don't
Ray
----- Original Message -----
From: "Inge Clody" <ingeclody@xxxxxxxx>
To: <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: Altered cells deliver Parkinson's therapy to brain


> THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS
> HOWEVER...........
> HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE BEFORE IT IS FDA APPROVED?
>
> On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 08:03:37 +0100 "M.Schild" <mmoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> writes:
> > Altered cells deliver Parkinson's therapy to brain
> > Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:17 PM GMT9
> >
> >    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Genetically modified nerve
> > 'progenitor' cells
> > can be used as mini-pumps to deliver nerve growth factor to the
> > brain, a new
> > study in animals shows.
> >  The results suggest such an approach could be used to treat
> > Parkinson's
> > disease and other brain diseases in humans, Dr. Clive D. Svendsen of
> > the
> > University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues report.
> >  A nerve growth factor called "glial cell line-derived neurotrophic
> > factor" (abbreviated to GDNF) has been shown to protect
> > dopamine-producing
> > neurons, which are lost in Parkinson's disease, Svendsen and his
> > team note in
> > the research journal Gene Therapy.
> >  In fact, it's safe to infuse GDNF into brain regions of patients
> > with
> > Parkinson's disease, according to some studies, and it seems
> > effective.
> > However, delivering the drug in this fashion is complex and only
> > reaches a
> > single point in the brain.
> >  In the current study, using rats with symptoms akin to Parkinson's
> > disease,
> > the researchers investigated the effect of human neural progenitor
> > cells
> > engineered to produce GDNF.
> >  The rats were transplanted with the modified cells, and after two
> > weeks these
> > were seen to have migrated to affected areas and to be secreting
> > enough GDNF
> > to extend the survival of dopamine neurons and promote outgrowth of
> > nerve
> > fibers.
> >  By five weeks post-transplant, the animals showed a "strong trend
> > toward
> > functional improvement," and at eight weeks the cells were still
> > releasing
> > the growth factor.
> >  Tests in elderly monkeys showed the cells survived and continued to
> > release
> > GDNF for three months after transplant. None of the animals in the
> > studies
> > developed brain tumors.
> >  Svendsen and his colleagues conclude that their results "show that
> > combining
> > human progenitor cell therapy with ... gene therapy is a powerful
> > approach to
> > the future treatment of Parkinson's disease and other neurological
> > conditions."
> >  SOURCE: Gene Therapy, online December 15, 2005.
> >
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>
> Inge Clody
> Minado, Reg.
> www.flash.net/~minado1
>
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