Cure for Parkinson’s a step closer with new stem cells breakthrough

SCOTTISH scientists have moved a step closer to developing new treatments for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

For the first time researchers in Edinburgh have generated stem cells – an early type of cell – from a rapidly progressing form of the disease, which can affect people in their early 30s.

The cells will enable scientists to test new drugs on Parkinson’s cells in the lab as they search for new ways of tackling the debilitating disease.

Campaigners said the development was “exciting” as research moved closer to a cure for Parkinson’s, which affects an estimated 10,000 Scots.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, took skin samples from a patient diagnosed with a progressive form of Parkinson’s.

The researchers at Edinburgh University, working with colleagues at University College London (UCL), were then able to use these skin cells to generate brain nerve cells affected by the disease. The cells can now be used to allow scientists to model the disease in the lab to try to work out why certain nerve cells die in patients with the disease.

They also aim to find drugs that prevent the death of key brain cells, known as neurons, which break down in patients with Parkinson’s.

Scientists will use the nerve cells to monitor the effectiveness of potential drugs to slow or halt the progress of the condition before they are tested on patients. Dr Tilo Kunath, from Edinburgh University’s Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine, said: “Current drugs for Parkinson’s alleviate symptoms of the condition.

“Modelling the disease in a dish with real Parkinson’s neurons enables us to test drugs that may halt or reverse the condition. This study provides an ideal platform to gain fresh insight into the condition, and opens a new area of research to discover disease-modifying drugs.”

The cells generated in the study came from a patient with the type of Parkinson’s disease that progresses quickly and can be diagnosed in people in their 30s.

Researchers know that people with this form of Parkinson’s have twice as many of the genes that produce a protein known as alpha-synuclein compared with the general population.

Although this form of the disease is rare, the protein involved is linked to virtually all types of the disease.

Dr Michael Devine, of UCL’s Institute of Neurology said, “Understanding such a progressive form of the disease will give us insight into different types of Parkinson’s. As this type of Parkinson’s progresses rapidly it will also make it easier to pick up the effects of drugs tested to prevent nerve cells targeted by the disease from dying.”

Dr Kieran Breen, from Parkinson’s UK, said: “Although the genetic mutation that leads to this progressive form of Parkinson’s is rare, this exciting study has the potential to bring about a huge breakthrough in Parkinson’s research. This is just the kind of innovative research that Parkinson’s UK is committed to funding as we move closer to a cure.”