The progression of motor symptoms was slowed in Parkinson’s patients who took lixisenatide, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes.
- Lixisenatide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, which is used to treat type 2 diabetes.
- In adults with early Parkinson’s disease, this medication slowed motor symptoms.
- However, it has been associated with gastrointestinal side effects.
Tremors, slowness of movements, stiffness of the limbs… These signs appear in people suffering from Parkinson’s disease, which affects 250,000 French people. As a reminder, “it progressively destroys dopamine neurons, in an area called substantia nigra or substantia nigra of the brain. Other neural networks are also affected which may explain resistance to treatment and other symptoms unrelated to dopamine deficiency”, according to health insurance. Thus, this pathology is a source of disability and loss of autonomy in elderly patients.
Parkinson’s: lixisenatide would have a neuroprotective effect
In a recent study, French researchers showed that a drug already developed and marketed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes could slow the progression of motor symptoms. The latter is lixisenatide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist. To reach this conclusion, the team recruited 156 adults aged 40 to 76, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease less than three years ago. Some of the participants benefited from lixisenatide, while other volunteers received a placebo for 12 months.
After one year of follow-up, people who received the placebo showed a worsening of the overall motor symptoms score of 3 points. On the other hand, the score of patients benefiting from lixisenatide did not change, “without signs of worsening. At 14 months, motor scores in the absence of treatment were 17.7 for lixisenatide and 20.6 for placebo”, can we read in the works. According to the authors, the loss of dopaminergic neurons was lower in volunteers who received lixisenatide compared to those who received the placebo. According to the results, published in the journal New England Journal of Medicinenausea occurred in 46% of participants receiving lixisenatide and vomiting in 13% of them.
“A significant advance in the future management” of Parkinson’s disease
“Laboratory tests have provided arguments showing that receptors involved in the mechanisms of diabetes also play a role in the mechanisms responsible for the loss of certain neurons in the brain. (…) These first positive results on slowing down the progression of Parkinson’s disease therefore constitutes a significant advance in the future management of this disease and a major public health issue.said Professors Olivier Rascol and Wassilios Meissner, who led the study.
