Monday 12 November 2018.
Parkison’s disease is a real scourge that affects at least 10 million people worldwide. Or more exactly, 10 million patients have been screened, because in countries where the healthcare system is not sufficiently developed, the victims of this neuronal degeneration are quite simply considered to be senile.
Gene therapy tackles Parkinson’s disease
Dozens of teams around the world are therefore trying to find the miracle cure, capable at least already of slowing down or even stopping the development of the disease. Others are moving instead towards another path: that of repairing the damage caused by Parkinson’s.
In Japan, a team of researchers has initiated an experimental protocol of a new kind. After genetic manipulation, she managed to transform cells from a sick patient in pluripotent stem cells. These cells were then injected directly into the diseased brain of a patient with Parkinson’s.
Stem cells to repair the brain
The daring bet of the researchers is that the cells thus injected will go directly to settle in the areas damaged by the disease and help to repair and restore the destroyed cognitive functions.
For the moment, the team communicated only on the success of the intervention and the transformation of the patient’s cells into pluripotent stem cells. It will take several months before knowing if the injection has improved the patient’s state of health.
Read also: About Parkinson’s disease
