Future treatments for Parkinson’s disease have made remarkable advances in recent years. This time, groundbreaking results have been achieved in research, with the strongest results being that there are no side effects and the treatment effect lasts for a long time.
The recent study was published Dec. 5 in the journal nature communicationsThe paper entitled “Enhanced production of midbrain dopaminergic neurons from lineage-restricted human undifferentiated stem cells” reveals an important advance in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Breakthrough in Parkinson’s disease research
In new research, DANDRITE group leader and associate professor Mark Denham has developed a method to ensure much higher purity of so-called dopamine cells, which are important in relation to Parkinson’s disease.
“Stem cells offer promising potential for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease by transforming into specific nerve cells. However, the precision of this transformation is a major challenge with current methods, resulting in low purity and ” Mark explains.
Achieving high purity is critical to effectively restoring patient movement.
The Denham Institute’s innovative approach
At the Denham Institute, the stem cells were genetically engineered to prevent them from producing the wrong type of nerve cells. Newly engineered stem cells have an enhanced ability to generate specific nerve cells needed to treat Parkinson’s disease, known as dopaminergic cells.
Additionally, researchers showed that genetically engineered stem cells led to restoration of movement in animal models. This breakthrough could lead to a new therapeutic approach for treating patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Implications for treatment and future research
Experiments in rats have shown that both the quantity and purity of cultured stem cells are important for the number and duration of treatments.
“Using genetically engineered cells will produce more pure dopamine cells, resulting in faster recovery time for patients and reduced risk of relapse and medication. My goal is to help patients avoid medication. “It’s about helping people quit, and that requires high purity. So my next step is to move my method into clinical trials,” Marks said.
Reference: “Enhanced production of midbrain dopaminergic neurons from lineage-restricted human undifferentiated stem cells” Muyesier Maimaitili, Muwan Chen, Fabia Febbraro, Ekin Ucuncu, Rachel Kelly, Jonathan Christos Niclis, Josefine Rågård Christiansen, Noëmie Mermet-Joret, Dragos Niculescu, Johanne Lauritsen, Angelo Iannielli, Ida H. Kristorp, Uffe Birk Jensen, Per Qvist, Sadeg Nabavi, Vania Broccoli, Anders Nicéar, Marina Romero-Ramos, Mark Denham, 2023 December 5th, nature communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43471-0