Medical Keywords - Everything you need to know about health.

Gene Therapy Just Might Be a Success for Parkinson's Patients

Right now, Parkinson's disease is only treated through various medications, physical therapy and even surgery such as deep brain stimulation. However, there is a new, promising treatment undergoing clinical trials that could pave the way for a revolutionary treatment. Gene therapy just might be the new game in town for Parkinson's sufferers as thus far; it has shown no harm in clinical trial participants.

There have already been some success stories that have come out of the clinical gene therapy trials. The jury is still out though because the clinical trial was very small and it will take longer time and larger pools of participants to thoroughly test different types of gene therapy to determine its total effectiveness on a wide variety of Parkinson populations.

So far though, medical researchers involved in the gene therapy study have said no harm physically or through toxic means has occurred. This is a far cry of the speculation that occurred before the gene therapy trials started. Some researchers thought that a wide variety of symptoms such as fever might occur, especially when gene therapy involves injecting billions and billions of particles into the brain areas affected by the disease.

A Look into the Therapy Itself

Gene therapy involves the injection of a virus into the brain. This virus is genetically engineered and injected into the STN or subthalamic nucleus region of the brain. This area becomes somewhat hyperactive and causes a number of Parkinson's symptoms such as tremors and rigidity of limbs. However, this genetically engineered virus invades these brain cells and turns on a special chemical communication which soothes the STN area, thereby calming the symptoms of the disease.

While Parkinson's disease does affect both hemispheres of the brain, researchers right now are only concentrating gene therapy into one half of the brain for safety reasons. The result of this one-sided gene therapy is readily apparent in clinical trials. The side of the body that is controlled by the part of the brain that got the gene therapy shows remarkable improvement that for many, continued for a prolonged period of time, in some cases over a year so far.

Some skeptical scientists say that because Parkinson's disease varies quite a bit and there are highs and lows with the symptoms, the results of the gene therapy could be just coincidence. However, most of the medical community area waking up to the fact that gene therapy is showing real promise in the world of Parkinson's disease.

While Parkinson's medications are still needed for those "down" times when symptoms are enhanced, for the most part, the people in the clinical trials for gene therapy have not had to rely much on drugs. However, as the testing for gene therapy is still in its early stages, many scientists are taking a wait and see approach. Becoming too optimistic, they say, means that something could be missed in the trials and testing phases.

While the next wave of gene therapy trials takes place, it is heartening to know that some of those pioneering patients in the first trials are still doing great almost two years later.