Parkinson's Breakthrough
Parkinson's Disease is debilitating for most patients. But that may be changing. A new surgical technique has worked wonders on one Parkinson's patient, and doctors say it may be the key to a cure.
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A FEW SHORT YEARS AGO, DENNIS TURNER WOULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HOLD HIS PAPER OR HIS ORANGE JUICE.
Dennis Turner
"The hand would shake and make you feel ugly. Your balance was kind of affected."
BUT DENNIS TOOK BACK HIS LIFE WHEN HE UNDERWENT A REVOLUTIONARY PROCEDURE. IT INVOLVED THE TRANSPLANTATION OF HIS OWN BRAIN'S STEM CELLS.
Dennis Turner
Parkinson's Patient
"They were not fetal cells. They were my cells, so I wouldn't have to take any anti-rejection medication the rest of my life."
DOCTORS TOOK SOME OF DENNIS'S STEM CELLS AND INTRODUCED CHEMICALS THAT FORCED THE CELLS TO CHANGE FORM. THEY BECAME NEURONS THAT SECRETE DOPAMINE, A CRITICAL SUBSTANCE LACKING IN PARKINSON'S PATIENTS. MONTHS LATER, THE NEW CELLS WERE IMPLANTED INTO DENNIS.
Michel Levesque, M.D.
Neurosurgeon
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA
"We amplify the number by several millions, and then the kind of cells that we introduce are mature neurons, whereas initially we harvested a few, 20 to 50, stem cells."
DENNIS IS NOW 80% BETTER THAN HE WAS BEFORE THE PROCEDURE. THAT MEANS HE CAN ONCE AGAIN DO THE THINGS THE REST OF US TAKE FOR GRANTED.
Dennis Turner
"I don't have the stiffness in the arms anymore. I can put my contacts in without having to hit and miss and poke myself in the eye."
DOCTORS CAUTION IT'S TOO EARLY TO BE SURE THE PROCEDURE WORKS AS WELL AS IT SEEMS. BUT IF DENNIS'S CASE IS NO FLUKE, RESEARCHERS COULD BE LOOKING AT A PARKINSON'S BREAKTHROUGH.
DOCTORS AT CEDARS-SINAI ARE NOW EXPANDING THEIR TRIAL TO SEE IF THEY CAN ACHIEVE THE SAME RESULTS WITH MORE PATIENTS. DOCTOR LEVESQUE BELIEVES THE GREAT IMPROVEMENT MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH SOME OTHER COMPONENT OF THE STEM CELLS.
A STUBBORN MYSTERY: Parkinson's disease is a progressive disease of the nervous system. It is
characterized by four principal symptoms: rigidity of the limbs, tremor of the limbs, bradykinesia of the limbs
(which includes difficulty in or slowness of movement), and postural instability. There are currently about 1.2
million people in the United States and Canada who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's. There are
approximately 480 newly diagnosed PD patients per million people each year. For most people with
Parkinson's disease, there is little in the way of treatment, and there is no cure. Invasive surgical procedures
and drug therapies may lessen the debilitating effects of the brain disorder, but the symptoms are virtually
never eliminated entirely. Now, researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles have come
across a technique that just might pave the way to a Parkinson's cure.
A TREATMENT FROM WITHIN: Neurosurgeons have discovered that transplantation of adult neural stem
cells taken directly from a patient's own tissue may drastically improve the debilitating effects of Parkinson's.
In the procedure, doctors first remove a small number of stem cells from the patient's brain, using a syringe
placed through a small hole in the skull. The cells are then cultivated for several months in a laboratory,
where scientists attempt to simulate the environment needed for stem cells to adapt and evolve into other
cells. Eventually, the cells begin to multiply and evolve into dopamine-secreting neurons. Dopamine is a
crucial compound in the brain, which is deficient in Parkinson's patients. After the new cells are created,
doctors re-introduce them into the patient's brain. Only a few stem cells are extracted initially, and several
million neurons are placed back into the brain.
In the first study of the new procedure involving a PD patient, improvement was noticeable within three
months. Doctors report a 37 percent improvement in motor skills at three months and a 55 percent increase
in dopamine uptake. At one year, the patient's overall Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale improved by
81 percent. Michel LÈvesque, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said,
"One of the most significant findings of this study was the patient's continued clinical improvement over time.
After six months of the transplantation, we observed a progressive regression of motor deficits." Two years
after the procedure, the improvement was even more dramatic. Today, the patient is more than 80 percent
better than he was before the procedure. He can walk, eat, and put in his contacts without difficulty. The few
Parkinson's symptoms that remain are barely detectable.
MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED: Doctors at Cedars-Sinai, led by Michel Levesque, M.D., are now
expanding their clinical trial to see if they can achieve the same positive results with other patients. Much
more research is necessary, as doctors still don't understand exactly why their initial patient responded so
well to the treatment. In particular, they want to know why the improvement continues, even though tests
indicate the patient's brain still has a marked deficiency of dopamine. Dr. Levesque says, perhaps it was
some other component of the stem cells that provided the benefit.
Blanca Solis
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Neurofunctional Centers
8631 W. 3rd St., Suite 215-E
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 423-1699
levesque@cshs.org
www.csmc.edu/nfs
www.celmedbio.com
Copyright © 2002 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
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