Stem-Cell Therapy Trial Offers New Hope for Parkinson's Patients - Video

A recently launched Phase 1 clinical trial at Mass General Brigham is examining the safety and feasibility of a groundbreaking treatment approach for Parkinson’s disease in which a patient’s stem cells are reprogrammed to replace dopamine cells in the brain damaged by the disease.

A total of six participants will be included in the Phase 1 trial that will track the patients for 12 months and beyond to determine the safety of the procedure and monitor for any improvements in Parkinson’s disease.

This novel therapeutic approach for treating Parkinson’s disease incorporates the use of stem cells derived from a patient’s own blood that had been converted into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These cells are then reprogrammed to turn into specific midbrain dopaminergic neurons ready for transplantation. The autologous transplantation approach of using a person’s own cells circumvents the requirement for immunosuppressive treatments, which are necessary when cells from other donors are used.

Cell replacement for Parkinson’s disease replaces the dopamine neurons lost to degeneration and can restore dopaminergic function in the brain, providing a completely new treatment modality compared to the currently available treatments.

“Seeing this transformational new patient cell-based replacement of their own dopamine neurons come to fruition — from the very basic science breakthroughs in our lab to be completely translated into a clinical application for patient’s suffering from Parkinson’s disease — is very gratifying,” said NRI’s founding director, Ole Isacson, Dr Med Sci, who is also a professor of neurology (neuroscience) at Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham. “We believe this approach may open up a new treatment paradigm and lead to the development of many additional cell therapies to restore damaged brain systems and replace degenerated brain cells in other diseases.”

Ref: https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/clinical-trial-novel-stem-cell-treatment-for-parkinsons