Experts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine are leading the second arm of a clinical trial using gene therapy to relieve the symptoms of tremor and mobility impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease. The technique shows promise in prolonging the effectiveness of levo-dopa, the mainstay treatment for the progressive neurodegenerative condition, by increasing production of a key enzyme essential to convert the drug into the neurotransmitter dopamine.

"By inserting the gene for this enzyme into cells in a specific part of the brain, we hope to make levo-dopa treatment more effective for a longer period of time."

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-0...n-disease.html

This sounds like PROSAVIN -- which has been judged "mildly effective"

What's the difference ?

https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundati...mitter-disease

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/...son%27s&rank=1

if i remember correctly, prosavin is made by a french company? or british?
and has 3 enzymes which either make l-dopa or dopamine from tyrosine and does not require as much l-dopa taken orally whereas this "new" gene therapy requires l-dopa but less since more of it gets converted to dopamine in the brain, with the theory being you get l-dopa into the brain but since in advanced pd'ers very little gets stored anymore and you make very little of your own it gets broken down as fast as it enters the brain?

do by adding genes to convert l-dopa to dopamine where needed, restores ability to used l-dopa and gets you maybe back to that good old "honeymoon" phase. sounds good, not sure if i'm right, too lazy to doublecheck.

I think you just summed it up perfectly!

developed by Oxford Biomedica.

Prosavin has taken so long to inch forward I have lost faith / interest.

Neil.

Am I missing something? As I understand it, this procedure requires you to have two holes drilled in your skull and a virus inserted and, in return, your doses of levodopa have more effect. Contrast this with drilling no holes, but taking more levodopa. I take the point that a shortage of AADC may reduce the efficiency of the conversion of levodopa into dopamine, but has it been shown that there is a fixed upper limit, for a given person, with a given pathology, of levodopa that can be converted?

John

My mom inquired about this study. The study team at University of Pittsburgh received so much interest in the first few weeks after this was announced that they decided to do a group meeting as a first step instead of one-on-one meetings.

My parents attended this meeting last week, where my mom was one of about 15 Parkinson's patients present. They learned that participation in this study will require an eight-hour surgery under general anesthesia. Cancer (current or previous) is apparently a disqualifying criteria.