[ad_1]
The researchers say that programmed skin cells, which were transplanted into the brain’s hemispheres in surgery for a difference of 6 months, continued to produce the dopamine necessary to alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms.
Dr. Kwang Soo Kim, chief investigator and director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, told Reuters that no side effects had been observed for the treatment, and that the reuse of the patient’s own cells allowed “resolution the problem of rejection “by the immune system. .
The treatment reduced the time the patient’s medications failed to control symptoms to less than one hour per day, from an average of 3 hours before scheduled cell implantation, and also allowed a small reduction in the dose of the drugs. medications you were taking.
“The neurons stay alive and keep working,” said Kim.
The patient, doctor and businessman, donated $ 2 million to help accelerate research, while the US National Institutes of Health. USA They provided additional funding for the study.
The research team emphasized that those results come from one patient, but team member Dr. Jeffrey Schweitzer of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston described the results in a press release as “very encouraging.”
In total, around 4 million cells were grown in 3 regions of the brain related to movement.
The most difficult question, Kim said, is whether an additional cell culture would allow the patient to get enough dopamine, adding: “We hope it continues to improve and can further reduce their medication.”
“>
Researchers have announced that a 69-year-old Parkinson’s patient was able to tie his shoes, swim and ride his bike again, after transplanting skin cells programmed to produce dopamine in his brain, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
The experimental treatment began about two years ago, and the patient received separate funding, and the researchers used the same man’s skin cells to produce neurons that secrete dopamine, knowing that using the patient’s cells greatly reduces the chances of that the immune system rejects them.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic disease that worsens over time and affects millions of people worldwide, causing involuntary tremors and problems with walking and speaking due to damage to brain cells that produce dopamine.
The researchers say that programmed skin cells, which were transplanted into the brain’s hemispheres in surgery for a difference of 6 months, continued to produce the dopamine necessary to alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms.
Dr. Kwang Soo Kim, chief investigator and director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, told Reuters that no side effects had been observed for the treatment, and that the reuse of the patient’s own cells allowed “resolution the problem of rejection “by the immune system. .
The treatment reduced the time the patient’s medications failed to control symptoms to less than one hour per day, from an average of 3 hours before scheduled cell implantation, and also allowed a small reduction in the dose of the drugs. medications you were taking.
“The neurons stay alive and keep working,” said Kim.
The patient, doctor and businessman, donated $ 2 million to help accelerate research, while the US National Institutes of Health. USA They provided additional funding for the study.
The research team emphasized that those results come from one patient, but team member Dr. Jeffrey Schweitzer of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston described the results in a press release as “very encouraging.”
In total, around 4 million cells were grown in 3 regions of the brain related to movement.
The most difficult question, Kim said, is whether an additional cell culture would allow the patient to get enough dopamine, adding: “We hope it continues to improve and can further reduce their medication.”
