NeuroTalk Support Groups - Parkinson's Disease Symptoms Reduced In New Experimental Treatment

This must be a re-post? : as there is much going on which needs sorting out :) perhapse some body will point out previous posts ?
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/...04/detail.html
POSTED: 3:24 pm EST January 25, 2008
UPDATED: 3:33 pm EST January 25, 2008

The following is a transcript of a report by medical editor Marilyn Brooks that first aired Jan. 25, 2008, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------There's no cure for Parkinson's, but an experimental gene therapy clinical trial with advanced patients reduced their symptoms.

Doctors at Ohio State University are now injecting genes directly into the brains of some patients, and are encouraged by the findings.

Steve Cantlon considers himself lucky. So far, Parkinson's hasn't stopped him from his woodworking.

"I'm just a couple months away from my 12th year of having Parkinson's disease, and I'm still doing quite well, as long as I stay on my medication regimen," he said.

That regimen requires medication seven times a day. Unfortunately, those medicines, over time, become less effective. That fact has prompted researchers to work on a new approach.

Dr. Matthew During, of the OSU Medical Center, developed a fluid that is injected directly into one half of the patient's brain.

"By injecting that drop of fluid, which contains these viruses, billions of viruses, it delivers a gene and that re-establishes some of the normal chemistry in the brain," he said.

During said it is the first clinical trial to use gene therapy on advanced cases of Parkinson's disease. Researchers targeted the same region of the brain that serves as the focal point for deep brain stimulation. Of 12 patients injected at New York Presbyterian Hospital, all improved and five had a surprising response.

"We get a sort of significant improvement where they are more mobile, where they're more able to live independently, where they can walk around," During said. "They don't have the same rigidity and, of course, the tremors are improved."

One year after the injections, During said the majority of patients continued to improve, suggesting their brains might be trying to reverse the damage caused by the disease.

This is just a Phase 1 trial. The next step is a larger patient trial to study gene therapy results.