Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Breakthrough?

Scientists have reversed the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in a new trial.

20:45 28 April 2016

A cure for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease is within reach after scientists have successfully reversed their symptoms by destroying two chemicals found in the brain.

 

The diseases, which are caused by the degeneration of neurons, cannot be cured. In the study, however, scientists were able to block harmful compounds in fruit flies and now hope that the symptoms in humans can also be reversed the same way. The study focuses on providing protection against brain cells lost, which could be a major turning point in fighting two of the most common neurological conditions.

 

Dr Carlo Breda, of Leicester University, said: "A key finding of our study is we can improve 'symptoms' in fruit fly models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease by feeding them a drug-like chemical."

 

Professor Flaviano Giorgini said: "We are excited by these results as they suggest TDO and KMO inhibition could be a general strategy employed to improve symptoms in a myriad of neurodegenerative disorders - not just Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

 

"Indeed five years ago we first showed these manipulations could improve 'symptoms' in Huntington's disease model flies so our next step is to validate our work in mammalian models and ultimately to see if such drugs could be helpful to patients in clinical trials."