Interesting Information from Doctor at Zhittya Genesis

[jimcaster]

On a Parkinsons News Today forum, I was intrigued by this comment from Dr. Jack Jacobs, who will be supervising Zhittya Genesis Medicine’s upcoming clinical trial in patients with Parkinson’s disease. They will be testing a growth factor, human FGF-1, which has shown promise in animal models of Parkinson’s disease (rodent and primate). As with all human trials, I have learned to be skeptical, but hopeful. Dr. Snow made this comment on the forum:

"Vascular Dysfunction in the Brain as an Initiating Event in Parkinson’s Disease.

The concept that Parkinson’s disease is essentially a vascular dysfunction disorder comes from the pioneering work of Dr. Berislav Zlokovic and his research team at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. These USC researchers believe that a substantial proportion of neurogenerative diseases are wholly or partly due to age-related small vessel disease of the brain.

Here is a quote from one of Dr. Zlokovic’s papers published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Cell: “aberrant angiogenesis, vessel regression, brain hypo-perfusion, and inflammatory responses, may initiate and/or contribute to a ‘vicious circle’ of the disease process, resulting in progressive synaptic and neuronal dysfunction and loss in disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and others.” (Cell, vol 163, pp 1064-1078, November 19, 2015).

It is known that the brain is critically dependent on healthy blood vessels to support the nourishment of its neurons, as well as to remove toxic waste products from the organ. When blood vessels start to work improperly due to age, disease or other factors, the brain’s function can be compromised. If vascular dysfunction occurs in the substantia nigra region of the brain that houses the dopamine-secreting neurons, it is our belief that this is the initiating event in Parkinson’s disease. In my next post, I will review the evidence for reduced blood flow and hypo-perfusion in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease."

[reedboat2]

Does the vascular model indicate anything in terms of treatment?

[jimcaster in reply to reedboat2]

I don't have direct links, but here's another comment from Dr. Jacobs which provides citations to the work they have done on rodents and monkeys. (By the way, success with rodents and even monkeys doesn't excite me at all, but they are generally necessary to get trials in humans.)

"Here are two references where the angiogenesis growth factor we are developing, human FGF-1, reversed motor disabilities and regenerated new dopamine-secreting neurons in the substantia nigra region of the brain in both rodents and primates.

Rodents: Wei X, S He, Z Wang, J Wu, J Zhang, et. al. Fibroblast growth factor 1 attenuates 6-hydroxydopamine-induced neurotoxicity: an in vitro and in vivo investigation in experimental models of Parkinson’s disease. Am J Transl Res 2014;6:664-677.

Primates: de Yebenes JG, Pernaute RS, Garrido JM, Rabano A, Albisua J, Rojo A, Mena MA, Ruiz PG, Jorge P, Correa C, Leenders K, Antonini A, Gunther I, Psylla M and Vontobel P. Long-term intracerebral infusion of fibroblast growth factors restores motility and enhances F-DOPA uptake in parkinsonian monkeys. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 1998; 4: 147-158."

[ladya2020 in reply to jimcaster]

There is a video on their website zhittyaregenerativemedicine...

[Smittybear7]

Thanks Jim