Serendipity and a Cure for Parkinson's Disease

On August 14, 2018 my mother, Gara Anderson, died from complications due to Parkinson's disease.  Aunt Athalee, her sister, had died seven months earlier on January 11, 2018.  Here, they are pictured while they awaited chelation therapy in St. Martinville the previous year.

Athalee Dupre and Gara Anderson

Today in the news I came across an article article that read, "Moreover, even though the PTB-silencing treatment was only administered once, the mice did not show any symptoms of Parkinson’s disease for the remainder of their lifetime."

I hope this leads very quickly to a treatment leading to a cure for these terrible diseases so that those suffering now may be whole again.

Accidental discovery leads to Parkinson’s disease cure in mice

"Once researchers realized that they could easily create neurons from other types of cells, they decided to see if the method could be used to treat neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. In Parkinson’s, dopamine cells in the brain die. Thus, to assess their method, the researchers used a chemical that poisons dopamine neurons and creates symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in mice.

After using the chemical to kill dopamine neurons in the mice, researchers silenced PTB. They found that 30% of astrocytes turned into neurons. Moreover, these newly generated neurons seemed to grow normally and even began to send connections to other parts of the brain, like normal neurons.

When the researchers looked at mouse behavior, they also found that silencing PTB completely restored movement function. Moreover, even though the PTB-silencing treatment was only administered once, the mice did not show any symptoms of Parkinson’s disease for the remainder of their lifetime.

“I was stunned at what I saw,” said study co-author Dr. William Mobley, Distinguished Professor of Neurosciences at UCSD’s School of Medicine. “This whole new strategy for treating neurodegeneration gives hope that it may be possible to help even those with advanced disease.”"

https://www.studyfinds.org/accidental-discovery-leads-to-parkinsons-disease-cure-in-mice/