Stem cells transplanted into the brains of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease are being damaged as the original cells were damaged by the disease, showing that the disease can propagate from host to the transplanted cells.
The transplanted cells, in theory, are meant to improve the symptoms of the disease, which are tremors, stiffness of the limbs and trunk, slowed movement and impaired balance and coordination.
Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago are finding that the stem cell transplants may not work long term.
Patients do improve for a short time after receiving the transplants but are deteriorating as the original disease affects them, according to the study, which was published in the April issue of Nature Medicine.
One of the abstracts from the study that was published in Nature Medicine, by Patrik Brundin and colleagues, states:
Our observation has key implications for understanding Parkinson's pathogenesis by providing the first evidence, to our knowledge, that the disease can propagate from host to graft cells.
They go on to note that the majority of grafted cells can work long term unimpaired.
In another abstract written by Jeffrey H Kordower and colleagues, they state:
These pathological changes suggest that Parkinson's disease is an ongoing process that can affect grafted cells in the striatum in a manner similar to host dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra. These findings have implications for cell-based therapies and for understanding the cause of Parkinson's disease.
The results, although diappointing, are advancing the knowledge to better improve the therapies offered for Parkinson's disease, according to Dr. C. Warren Olanow, director of the Robert and John M. Bendheim Parkinson's Disease Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he said in a prepared statement, "While, on the one hand, these results may sound disappointing, this information is crucially important if we are to develop better therapies for PD. The more knowledge we gain about the nature of the disease, the better our chances to find the cause of why cells degenerate and to develop a treatment that can protect them. These findings also do not mean that transplant strategies such as stem cells cannot be made to work -- our findings just represent another obstacle that will have to be overcome."
Parkinson’s disease is affects more than a million people in the United States alone. It develops through the death of dopamine-producing brain cells, which is a message-carrying chemical linked to movement.
There is no known cure or permanent solution. There is only treatments and drugs meant to delay the symptoms of this disease.
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