Cancer drug to treat Parkinson’s diease
A cancer drug, called Nilotinib, used to treat certain types of leukemia has produced remarkable results when tested on people with Parkinson’s disease.
Nilotinib works by boosting the ability to clear out proteins which accumulate in the brain cells of people with Parkinson’s disease. These proteins are believed to trigger the death of brain cells which make molecules like dopamine needed for movement and other functions deficient.
Dr Charbel Moussa of the Georgetown University Medical Centre in Washington DC, who led the study said: ‘We’ve seen patients at end stages of the disease coming back to life.’ The drug was trialled on patients with advanced stages of the disease. ‘We had people as stiff as a board at the start of the study, who were walking around, sitting down and bending their legs by the end,’ he said.
‘You could see the elation on their faces when they saw the improvement. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.’
Dr Pagan added: ‘They were brighter and more fluent in speech, and they had a lot more energy. It was like an awakening for them.’
Alan Hoffman, a retired professor of social science education, who was one of the participants who benefited from the effects of the drug trial said, ‘Before the nilotinib, I did almost nothing around the house. Now, I empty the garbage, unload the dishwasher, load the washer and the dryer, set the table, even take responsibility for grilling. My wife says it’s life-changing for her and for my children and grandchildren. To say that nilotinib has made a change in our lives is a huge understatement.’
But despite the apparent striking effects, doctors have cautioned against great expectations from the drug at this stage as there was no control group or placebo used in the study for comparison. Professor Carl Clarke, of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘It seems too good to be true. I dearly hope I am wrong.’
Professor Kallol Ray Chaudhuri, from King’s College London, agreed, saying: ‘If it can really reverse Parkinson’s, we’d have reached a major milestone, but I’m skeptical. I would say, watch this space’, he added.
Written by: Dr. Ajay Sati.
