An Autologous Stem Cell-Based Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease

[Farooqji]

A recent study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, added fuel to the fire. A research team, led by Harvard’s Kwang-Soo Kim, PhD, harvested cells from a person suffering from Parkinson’s disease, created induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and differentiated them into dopamine-producing neurons, which were ultimately transplanted into that person’s brain.

While this work generated some controversy, the procedure was well-tolerated for the study’s only participant, and that’s a first step towards establishing a safe track record for autologous neuronal cell transplants.

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[sharoncrayn]

IQ,

Thanks again for finding these interesting studies and commentaries.

Very interesting commentary on this previously discussed case study (n=1, the patient had not had dyskinesias, but was 10 years post diagnosis) which the advocates of stem cell transplants for PD should at least read.

Neuronal transplants, regardless of the specific type of cells, will ultimately come as DBS and FUS have come. Several big questions remain to be answered however which can't be ignored. Chief among them is whether or not this approach has general "applicability" to a significant portion of the PD population > 5 years progression. At this time, I have my doubts.

Until the case studies reach into the 100s, many, many questions will remain as is pointed out...(the author was not involved in this SCT).

"The jury is still out on which immunosuppressive regimens will be needed to protect allogeneic transplants from the immune system and how long those will be needed. Immunosuppression has a dramatic impact on quality of life, making people more vulnerable to opportunistic infections. The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing reminder that being immunosuppressed, for any amount of time, can be quite dangerous."

"We still have a long way to go with cell therapies. To move forward with autologous neuron transplants, we need to approach them in a rigorous and systematic way, conduct robust, well-designed clinical trials to study safety, tolerability and efficacy and develop innovative neurosurgical approaches."

Sharon