Experimental cancer drug shows promise for Parkinson’s

A drug originally developed for prostate cancer may have exciting potential for treating Parkinson's. The study, funded by Parkinson's UK, suggests that the drug, tasquinimod, which is not yet on the market, works by controlling genes that may cause Parkinson's. This happens when the drug interacts with a protein inside brain cells. The team at the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre used cutting-edge stem cell techniques to grow brain cells from skin cell samples donated by people with a rare genetic form of Parkinson's, and from healthy people without the condition. The team followed the progression of the condition in brain cells made from the patients' stem cells and saw that a number of important genes became inactive when problems first started to occur inside the Parkinson's-inflicted cells. The "switching off" of these genes early in the process brought the condition on later. Professor Caleb Webber of Oxford's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, who co-led the study, said: 'This is the first time researchers have followed the progression of the condition over time in brain cells in the lab, something we simply cannot do in cells inside the living brain.' Professor Richard Wade-Martins of Oxford's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, who co-led the study, said: 'We think that switching off these genes in brain cells may play a vital role in the cell damage and death that occurs in Parkinson's.