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Published online 14 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1001
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Gene therapy could remedy Parkinson's
Introducing three genes corrects motor defects in monkeys.
A potential gene therapy for Parkinson's disease can correct motor deficits in monkeys without causing the jerky, involuntary movements that often accompany long-term treatments for the disease. The approach is undergoing preliminary testing in a handful of human patients, who have all shown promising signs of improvement.
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Throw in some GDNF, that'll coax cells to become dopamine producers. It's been done many times: you can co-culture stem cells and testicular Sertoli cells, and the GDNF secreted by the Sertoli cells induce differentiation into dopaminergic neurons; you can co-graft neurons and sertoli cells into the substantia nigra and those neurons will communicate, branch out, and churn out dopamine as happily as if they were native cells without the need for immunosuppressants; GDNF also prevents astrocytes and microglia from going all crazy-inflammatory.