Tag: disease

Two birds, one stone?

~ Simon ~ 13 Comments

This week interesting research was published in the journal EMBO that looked at the Parkinson’s-associated protein Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (or LRRK2).

In their study, the researchers discovered that lowering levels of LRRK2 protein (in cells and animals) affected the ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis – the bacteria that causes Tuberculosis – to replicate.

In today’s post, we will discuss what Tuberculosis is, how it relates to LRRK2 and Parkinson’s, and we will consider why this is potentially REALLY big news for Parkinson’s.

Daedalus and Icarus. Source: Skytamer

In Greek Mythology, there is the tale of Daedalus and Icarus.

Daedalus was a really smart guy, who designed the labyrinth on Crete, which housed the Minotaur (the ‘part man, part bull’ beast). For all his hard work, however, Daedalus was shut up in a tower and held captive by King Minos to stop the knowledge of his Labyrinth from spreading to the general public.

Source: Clansofhonor

But a mere tower was never going to stop Daedalus, and he set about fabricating wings for himself and his young son Icarus (who was also a captive).

Being stuck in the tower limited Daedalus’ access to feathers for making those wings, except of course for the large birds of prey that circled the tower awaiting the demise of Daedalus and his son. But he devised a clever way of throwing stones at the birds in such a way, that he is able to strike one bird and then the ricochet would hit a second bird.

And thus, the phase ‘killing two birds with one stone’ was born (or so it is said – there is also a Chinese origin for the phrase – Source).

Interesting. And this relates to Parkinson’s how?!?

Well, this week researchers in the UK have discovered that a protein associated with Parkinson’s is apparently also associated with another condition: Tuberculosis. And they also found that treatments being designed to target this protein in Parkinson’s, could also be used to fight Tuberculosis.

Two birds, one stone.

What is Tuberculosis?

Continue reading “Two birds, one stone?” →

On the importance of Calcium

~ Simon ~ 21 Comments

Recently researcher from the University of Cambridge reported that an imbalance in calcium and the Parkinson’s-associated protein alpha synuclein can cause the clustering of synaptic vesicles.

What does this mean? And should we reduce our calcium intake as a result?

In today’s post, we will review the research report, consider the biology behind the findings and how it could relate to Parkinson’s, and discuss what can or should be done.

Me and Brie. Source: Wikipedia

When I turned 25, I realised that my body no longer accepted cheese.

This was a very serious problem.

You see, I still really liked cheese.

A bottle of red wine, a baguette and a chunk of brie – is there any better combination in life?

So obviously my body and I had a falling out. And yes, it got ugly. I wanted things to keep going the way they had always been, so I tried to make things interesting with new and exotic kinds of cheeses, which my body didn’t want to know about it. It rejected all of my efforts. And after a while, I gradually started resenting my body for not letting me be who I was.

We sought help. We tried interventions. But sadly, nothing worked.

And then things got really bad: My body decided that it didn’t have room in its life for yogurt, milk or even ice cream anymore (not even ice cream!!!). Basically no dairy what so ever.

There’s something’s missing in my life. Source: Morellisices

OMG. How did you survive without ice cream?

Well, I’ll tell ye – it’s been rough.

All silliness aside though, here is what I know: It is actually very common to develop a lactase deficiency as we get older – lactase being the enzyme responsible for the digestion of whole milk. In fact, about 65% of the global population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy (Source: NIH). I am not lactose intolerant (one of the few tests that I actually aced in my life), but I do have trouble digesting a particular component of dairy products – which can result in discomfort and socially embarrassing situations (one day over a drink I’ll tell you the ‘cheese fondue story’). Curiously, that mystery ingredient is also present in products that have no dairy (such as mayonnaise – it absolutely kills me).

But spare me your tears, if one is forced to drop a particular food group, dairy is not too bad (if I am ever forced to give up wine, I swear I’ll go postal).

My biggest concern when I dropped dairy, however, was “where was I going to get my daily requirements of calcium?“.

Understand that calcium is really rather important.

Why is calcium important?

Continue reading “On the importance of Calcium” →

BIIB054: An immunotherapy update

~ Simon ~ 14 Comments

Immunotherapy is an experimental treatment that is being tested in Parkinson’s in the hope that it will be able to slow down the progression of the condition.

This week the Pharmaceutical company Biogen provided an update regarding their immunotherapy program for Parkinson’s.

It involves a drug called BIIB054.

In today’s post we will look at what BIIB054 is, how it works, and review the results of Biogen’s first clinical trial with this treatment.

This week the 2018 American Academy of Neurology ANN Annual Meeting is being held in Los Angeles (California). The meeting is an opportunity each year for researchers to meet and share new discoveries. A lot of neuroscience-focused biotech companies use the meeting to release new clinical trial results.

And this year one result in particular has been rather encouraging.

At 3:30pm on 24th April, the pharmaceutical company Biogen made a presentation entitled “Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Single Ascending Dose Study of AntiAlpha-Synuclein Antibody BIIB054 in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease,” which provided some of the first insights into the companies immunotherapy program for Parkinson’s.

What is immunotherapy?

Continue reading “BIIB054: An immunotherapy update” →

Is there NOP hope for Parkinson’s?

~ Simon ~ 8 Comments

Please do not misread the title of this post!

Compounds targeting the Nociceptin receptor (or NOP) could provide the Parkinson’s community with novel treatment options in the not-too-distant future.

In pre-clinical models of Parkinson’s, compounds designed to block NOP have demonstrated neuroprotective properties, while drugs that stimulate NOP appear to be beneficial in reducing L-dopa induced dyskinesias. 

In today’s post we look at exactly what NOP is and what it does, we will review some of the Parkinson’s-based research that have been conducted so far, and we will look at what is happening in the clinic with regards to NOP-based treatments.

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Source: LUMS

On the surface of every cell in your body, there are lots of small proteins that are called receptors.

They are numerous and ubiquitous.

And they function act like a ‘light switch’ – allowing for certain biological processes to be initiated or inhibited. All a receptor requires to be activated (or blocked) is a chemical messenger – called a ligand – to come along and bind to it.

An example of a receptor on a cell. Source: Droualb

Each type of receptor has a particular structure, which is specific to certain shaped ligands (the chemical messenger I mentioned above). These ligands are floating around in the extracellular space (the world outside of the cell), having been released (or secreted) by other cells.

And this process represents one of the main methods by which cells communicate with each other.

By binding to a receptor, the ligand can either activate the receptor or alternatively block it. The activator ligands are called agonists, while the blockers are antagonists.

Agonists_and_antagonists

Agonist vs antagonist. Source: Psychonautwiki

Many of the drugs we currently have available in the clinic function in this manner.

For example, with Parkinson’s medications, some people will be taking Pramipexole (‘Mirapex’ and ‘Sifrol’) or Apomorphine (‘Apokyn’) to treat their symptoms. These drugs are Dopamine agonists because they bind to the dopamine receptors, and help with dopamine-mediated functions (dopamine being one of the chemicals that is severely in the Parkinsonian brain). As you can see in the image below the blue dopamine agonists can bypass the dopamine production process (which is reduced in Parkinson’s) and bind directly to the dopamine receptors on the cells that are the intended targets of dopamine.

Source: Bocsci

There are also dopamine antagonists (such as Olanzapine or ‘Zyprexa’) which blocks dopamine receptors. These drugs are not very helpful to Parkinson’s, but dopamine antagonist are commonly prescribed for people with schizophrenia.

Are there other receptors of interest in Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “Is there NOP hope for Parkinson’s?” →

Making. It. Personal.

~ Simon ~ 24 Comments

This is one of those posts (read: rants) where I want to put an idea out into the ether for someone to chew on. It starts with a very simple question:

Why is ‘the drug’ the focus of a clinical trial?

If our goal is to find beneficial therapies for people with Parkinson’s, then the way we currently clinically test drugs is utterly nonsensical.

And if we do not change our “we’ve always done it this way” mindset, then we are simply going to repeat the mistakes of the past. Others are changing, so why aren’t we?

In today’s post, we will consider one possible alternative approach.

I hope you know who Grace Hopper is – if not, click here. Source: Mentalfloss

Why is ‘the drug‘ the focus of a clinical trial?

The way we clinically test drugs makes absolutely no sense when you actually stop and think about it.

Other medical disciplines (such as oncology) have woken up to this fact, and it is time for the field of Parkinson’s research to do this same.

Let me explain:

Continue reading “Making. It. Personal.” →

Something is interesting in the state of Denmark

~ Simon ~ 5 Comments

 

 

Gaucher disease is a genetic disorder caused by the reduced activity of an enzyme, glucocerebrosidase. This enzyme is produced by a region of DNA (or a gene) called GBA – the same GBA gene associated with a particular form of Parkinson’s.

Recently, a Danish company has been testing a new drug that could benefit people with Gaucher disease.

It is only natural to ask the question: Could this drug also benefit GBA-associated Parkinson’s?

In today’s post, we will discuss what Gaucher disease is, how this experimental drug works, and why it would be interesting to test it in Parkinson’s.

Will Shakespeare. Source: Ppolskieradio

The title of this post is a play on words from one of the many famous lines of William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet.

The original line – delivered by Marcellus (a Danish army sentinel) after the ghost of the dead king appears – reads: If the authorities knew about the problems and chose not to prevent them, then clearly something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

(Act 1, Scene 4)

The title of this post, however, is: Something is interesting in the state of Denmark

This slight change was made because certain Danish authorities know about the problem and they are trying to prevent it. The ‘authorities’ in this situation are some research scientists at a biotech company in Denmark, called Orphazyme.

And the problem is Parkinson’s?

No, the problem is Gaucher disease.

Huh? What is Gaucher disease?

Continue reading “Something is interesting in the state of Denmark” →

“What’s the evolutionary advantage of Parkinson’s?”

~ Simon ~ 24 Comments

Each year King’s College London holds the Edmond J. Safra Memorial Lecture. It is a public event – exploring cutting-edge research on Parkinson’s – held in honour of the late philanthropist and financier, Mr Edmond J Safra, .

I was lucky enough to attend this year’s event (entitled A vision of tomorrow: How can technology improve diagnosis and treatment for Parkinson’s patients?). It highlighted the fantastic research being carried out by Professor Marios Politis and his team.

During the Q&A session of the event though, a question was asked from the audience regarding what the evolutionary advantage of Parkinson’s might be. The question drew a polite chuckle from the audience.

But the question wasn’t actually as silly as some might think.

In today’s post we look at some evidence suggesting an evolutionary advantage involving Parkinson’s.

King’s College London Chapel. Source: Schoolapply

Despite the impressive name, King’s College London is not one of the grand old universities of England.

Named after its patron King George IV (1762-1830), the university was only founded in 1829 (compare this with 1096 for Oxford and 1209 for Cambridge; even silly little universities like Harvard date back further – 1636). The university is spread over five separate campuses, geographically spread across London. But if you ever get the chance to visit the main Strand campus, ask for the chapel and take a moment to have a look – it is very impressive (the image above really doesn’t do it justice).

As I mentioned in the intro, each year King’s College London holds the Edmond J. Safra Memorial Lecture. It is an event that is open to the public and it involves a discussion regarding innovative new research on Parkinson’s. The evening is held in honour of the late Mr Edmond J Safra.

Edmond J. Safra. Source: Edmondjsafrafoundation

This year, Professor Marios Politis and members of his research group were presenting lectures on “How can technology improve diagnosis and treatment for Parkinson’s”. The lectures were very interesting, but the reason I am writing about it here is because during the question and answer session at the end of the lectures, the following question was asked:

“What’s the evolutionary advantage of Parkinson’s?”

Given the debilitating features of the condition, the audience was naturally amused by the question. And there was most likely several people present who would have thought the idea of any evolutionary advantage to Parkinson’s a ridiculous concept.

But it’s not.

And there is actually research to suggest that something evolutionary could be happening with Parkinson’s.

?!?!? What do you mean?

Continue reading ““What’s the evolutionary advantage of Parkinson’s?”” →

The dilemma of success

~ Simon ~ 17 Comments

Late last year, I wrote a post for Parkinson’s UK‘s excellent blog on Medium.

My piece was called the Dilemma of Success, and it explored a hypothetical situation that we may very well face in the not-so-distant future.

Optimistic as I am about the future of Parkinson’s research, I think this is a very serious issue – one which the Parkinson’s community needs to discuss and start planning for. I am re-posting it here today as I am keen for some thoughts/discussion on this matter.

 
BP

Lord Robert Baden-Powell. Source: Utahscouts

My scout master looked around the horse shoe, making eye contact with each of us, before asking a simple question:

“When did Noah build the ark?”

My fellow scouts and I looked at each other. Some of us were wondering if the guy had completely lost the plot and somehow thought that it was Sunday morning and he was doing the sermon. Others seriously looked like they were trying to calculate an exact date.

He waited a moment for one of us to offer up some idiotic attempt at an answer, before he solemnly said:

“Before the rain”

It’s one of those childhood moments that didn’t make sense at the time, but comes back to haunt you whenever you can foresee certain troubles coming over the hill towards you.

The dilemma of success

It will be nice to have this problem, but it will still be a problem.
And we need to plan for it

Continue reading “The dilemma of success” →

Happy birthday: Silverstein Foundation

~ Simon ~ 7 Comments

Over the last 12 months, the Silverstein Foundation has quickly established itself as a major focused force in the fight against Parkinson’s.

And when I say ‘focused’, I mean ‘focused’ –  the foundation is “actively pursues and invests in cutting edge research with the goal of discovering new therapies for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease in glucocerebrosidase (GBA) mutation carriers”.

But the output of this effort may well have major benefits for the entire Parkinson’s community.

In today’s post, we will discuss what GBA is, how it functions inside cells, its association with Parkinson’s, and what all of this GBA focused research being funded by the Silverstein Foundation could mean for the Parkinson’s community.

Jonathan Silverstein. Source: Forbes

This is Jonathan Silverstein.

He’s a dude.

He is also a General Partner and a Co-Head of Global Private Equity at OrbiMed – the world’s largest fully dedicated healthcare fund manager. During his time at OrbiMed, the company has invested in healthcare companies that have been involved with over 60 FDA approved products.

In February 2017, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at just 49 years of age.

Rather than simply accepting this diagnosis, however, Mr Silverstein decided to apply the skills that he has built over a long and successful career in funding biotech technology, and in March 2017, he and his wife, Natalie, set up the Silverstein Foundation.

They raised $6 million from donors and then provided another $10 million of their own money to fund the endeavour, which has funded a dozen research projects and started a new company called Prevail Therapeutics (we’ll come back to this shortly).

Source: Businesswire

The foundation has just one mission: “to actively pursue and invest in cutting edge research with the goal of discovering new therapies for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease in GBA mutation carriers”

And it seeks to address this by achieving three goals:

  1. to find a way to halt the progression of Parkinson’s with GBA.
  2. to identify regenerative approaches to replace the damaged/lost cells
  3. to find preventative measures

What is ‘GBA’?

Continue reading “Happy birthday: Silverstein Foundation” →

One black sheep per week

~ Simon ~ 3 Comments

Each time a cell divides, the DNA inside the resulting pair of cells has changed slightly. These small alterations – known as genetic mutations – provide a method by which an organism can randomly determine traits that may be beneficial.

New research indicates that in certain parts of the brain, post-mitotic (non-dividing) cells are taking on as many as one mutation per week across the span of our lives. This results in thousands of genetic variations accumulating in each cell by the time we eventually pass away in old age.

In today’s post we will review new research and consider what this gradual build up of genetic mutations could mean for our understanding of neurodegenerative conditions, like Parkinson’s.

Source: Pexels

Coming from the back waters of third world New Zealand, you will understand that sheep hold a very special place in my heart.

I grew up a simple country lad, and each year I had a pet lamb that I would raise and train to do silly tricks in the hope of impressing the judges at the annual agricultural/farm day at school. In addition to instilling me with a crazy fanaticism for the sport (read: religion) of rugby, my parents figured that having a pet lamb each year would teach me a sense of responsibility and a sort of discipline.

I’m not really sure how this practice has influenced my later life, but I certainly do have very fond memories of those early years (the first lamb was named ‘Woolly’, the 2nd lamb was named ‘Woolly2’, the third lamb was actually a goat – bad lambing season – which I named ‘Billy the kid’, the 4th lamb was named ‘MacGyver’,…).

Lots of happy memories.

Source: Countryliving

But as I grew into the teenage years, there was one thing that really bothered me with regards to my pet lambs.

It was that whole negative stigma associated with the ‘black sheep’.

Why, I would wonder, was it the ‘black sheep of the family’ that was the bad kid? And why was the one black sheep in every flock considered the worst of the bunch?

Source: theodysseyonline

Why was this association applied to sheep?

Why not dogs? Or cows? Why do we pick on sheep?

Continue reading “One black sheep per week” →