Therapeutic vaccine approach for PD discovered.

2004 JUL 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha and Columbia University Medical Center in New York have discovered a new vaccine approach that successfully prevents the death of brain cells in a mouse model of Parkinson disease.

"It's a significant conceptual advance for Parkinson's disease therapy," said Howard Gendelman, MD, David T. Purtilo distinguished chair of pathology and microbiology at UNMC and director of the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders where the research was conducted. "As of today drugs are available which only treat symptoms of disease. Regrettably, nothing is now available that prevents or reverses the course of brain degeneration. Our vaccine approach changes this by bringing a new excitement to a developing field of investigation called neuroprotective medicine. A vaccine therapy that protects the dopamine nerve cells damaged in Parkinson's disease is novel."

"The research is very exciting," said Serge Przedborski, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and pathology in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University and a world-renowned expert in Parkinson disease research. "Using this approach, the harmful aspects of inflammation associated with Parkinson's disease could be eliminated."

The discovery, however, is just the beginning, Gendelman said. More research is being done at UNMC to improve this approach. Some aspects include finding the types of immune cells responsible for the protection, as well as developing diagnostic techniques like enhanced magnetic resonance imaging to track disease progression. Clinical trials in humans are being developed at Columbia University.

"This will change how we treat neurodegenerative diseases," said Harris Gelbard, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "It's a groundbreaking advance."

The CNND has based much of its research on the premise that activation of two types of support cells in the brain - microglia and astrocytes - mediate inflammatory events that contribute to the death of neurons, the nerve cells in the nervous system that receive and send out electrical signals.

The destruction of neurons is well known to lead to the development of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease and HIV-1-associated dementia. The vaccine approach can affect the ...