New findings bring hope for possible Parkinson's disease cure

Researchers at Iowa State University have found an essential key to possibly cure Parkinson's disease and are looking for others.

November 3, 2009 http://www.physorg.com/news176464812.html

Researchers at Iowa State University have found an essential key to possibly cure Parkinson's disease and are looking for others.

Anumantha Kanthasamy, a distinguished professor of biomedical sciences and W. Eugene and Linda R. Lloyd Endowed Chair in Neurotoxicology at the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine, has been working to understand the complex mechanisms of the disease for more than a decade and thinks he has found hope for the cure.

Parkinson's disease sufferers lack a sufficient amount of a brain chemical called dopamine.

Kanthasamy's research shows that there is specific protein that is naturally present in human brains that -- for no known reason -- kills the brain cells that make dopamine.

The cells that are being killed are the ones that produce the needed dopamine.

"We have millions of cells in our brains," said Kanthasamy, "In Parkinson's, about 10,000 of these brain cells die; no one knows why."

Kanthasamy discovered that a novel protein -- known as protein kinase-C (specifically PKCδ) - is killing the dopamine-producing cells.

Would you read that byline again?
New findings bring hope for possible Parkinson's disease cure

Nobody wants to commit any more. Several years ago I and several others in this forum were listening to Michael J. Fox testify before the US Senate for more research funding. Many of us heard him say "A cure can be found for Parkinson's with proper funding in five more years." At least 3 "five more years" have passed.

Five years - we heard great researchers say it, too. We saw the timeline. Yet, here we are - getting closer, but nobody is saying when it will happen.

I'm thankful for promising findings like this, but don't want researchers to start their news releases with such ambiguity! "Hope" - "possible cure." I want the conviction and intensity we had back then.

Anybody with me?

Peg

yea because i know how you have been feeling and i want you back in the game.

paula

Peg - they are just being truthful. We energized more funding for research, and the research discovered more complications.

I'm not about to commit to more research funding advocacy without a commitment from others to help those who have PD now lead a better quality of life.

Only chasing the cure is no way to live well; we need balance.

This is telling to me:

"Once we find the compound, we need to make sure it's safe. If everything goes well, it could take about 10 years, and then we might be able to see something that will truly make a difference in the lives of people with this disorder," said Kanthasamy."


"once we find...if everything goes well....could take about 10 years....then we might..make a diference"

http://www.physorg.com/news176464812.html

I'm not holding my breath. The exercise bike on that page (ad) holds out more hope and relevance to me. Not that I'm not glad that there are researchers willing to commit 10+++ years of their careers to this cause...I just don't have the time to wait!

For me, this equates to 10++++ years, as a means of someone(s) securing and receiving a steady salary. Yeah....colour me cynical, but I sometimes wonder why they make these releases sound so promising until one actually dissects them.

A "cure" can mean controlling symptoms, or at least that's what is has always meant in my mind.

Having PD is kind or like having the body you are born with - there's just so much improvement one can do when you have PD (that sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?) It's like the biggest obstacle preventing one a good quality of life. Oh, we can "be positive, hopeful, and keep working hard to help find better treatments," but every day when we look in the mirror, our brain says "You have PD. Now start shaking, or have dsytonia, or make poor choices today, or don't you dare smile."

Thanks for everyone's input - even the cynical input - "it is what it is!" lol

I wish I could attend the Hope conference in Washington state in mid-November, but hubby is having knee replacement. Sounds good. Carey, what are you doing in it - I'm sure you must be making a presentation or somethiing. will it be webcast (ed)?
Peg

I followed a trail on the computor for this (did anyone else??) And ended up with Bee Propolis. It attacks this protein both in cancer and the ones trying to kill our dopamine producing cells. Will someone else please do a check on this for me...I am not that good at computor!...Anyway, there are alot of precautions using Bee Propolis....no one allergic to bees or bee pollen or honey should use it/ they also said people with asthma ( and people taking blood thinners, I think shouldn't use..it's been a couple of weeks since I did the search...and never trust my memory) Anyway it was good for several things. I purchased a bottle of capsules and started on it and have had no noticable effects, but I feel good, so am not allegic to it anyway.

I followed a trail on computor for protein kinase -C and found that Bee Propolis kills this protein that attacks dopamine producing cells. Bee Propolis is not to be taken by people who have any allergic reaction to bees/ pollen /honey etc/ or people with asthma (there are other warnings too) I am not alllergic to bees & went out & bought a bottle of Bee Propolis...so far no noticeable reaction to one capsule a day . Will someone else check this out & see if I came to the right conclusion with what I found??? Thank You

If we can live productive ,fairly normal lives/ with little pain...to me, we are doing what everyone wants...there may be alot of treatments out there, but if they only help for a short time (like chemo for cancer) what good is it to go thru the pain of the treatment and have the symptoms & disease come back?? I guess , that is why I am so impressed with the fava beans...they have been used for alot more years than sinemet...they are time prooven (you just have to do the G6pd blood test to make sure you don't have favism) So far the results are amazing, both for me and my friend. parkinsonsrecover.com is going to do a radio program devoted to fava beans sometime...as soon as I know a date..will let you all know about it. God Bless . Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.