A new study suggests that the drugs for Auto-immune diseases which mainly target the aggressiveness of Immune system to reduce may have a link to PD vanishing and play a role . “It’s a reasonable assumption that if a drug reduces the risk of getting Parkinson’s, it also will slow disease progression, and we’re exploring that now,” Racette says.
PD remains incurable and difficult to track the progression of the disease , although there are efforts to treat the malady .
A recent post on the SoPD blog discusses research on the use of immunosuppressants for the treatment of PD (including this research).
"Whether some of these immunosuppressive drugs could be re-purposed for Parkinson’s still needs to be determined with further research. And given the risks associated with long-term use of immunosuppressant drugs and immunodeficiency/reduced cancer immunosurveillance such investigations will need to be extra vigilant."
"Parkinson’s disease among people who used either of two categories of immune-suppressing drugs: corticosteroids (about 20% lower) or inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase inhibitors (about 36% lower)."
Long term use of either has undesirable consequences.
I developed a very rare autoimmune disease at the same time as I developed Parkinson's disease. I have been taking a couple of immune suppressant drugs, one for eight years, to control the disease which, at that point, was making me extremely ill.
I don't know whether PD progression has slowed through use of these drugs (it seems too fast for me) but earlier this year I went into liver failure due to one of the drugs. Seriously, I felt so ill that I didn't care if I never awoke. I know I spent some time unconscious (I live alone). Fortunately I have a very vigilant rheumatologist who had regular blood tests done AND read the results AND rang me to tell me to stop taking the drug immediately.
Yesterday I told the medical specialist who treats my (PD related) postural hypotension, that I'm detoxing (ie refusing any new immunosupressant drug) and for the moment I'd rather small disease flares than risk dying of liver failure. He agreed with me.
I don't know to which class the drug belongs, but I do know the FDA has issued warnings about sudden death from liver failure, even from short-term use.
A risky proposition to use any such drug as a prophylactic I would think.
I'll read about the research though... Thanks for raising and discussing the issue.
Thank you for sharing with me your Clinical Case , This Research is about an understanding the relationship between Auto-immune meds and PD progression . Although still have clues but not yet confirmed as patient population differs . But expecting to lucidly affirm and further develop right therapeutics in the future .
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