Researchers have found an essential key to possibly cure Parkinson's disease and are looking for others. The discovery is expected to provide new treatment options to stop the progression of Parkinson's disease or even cure it.

Anumantha Kanthasamy and his team of researchers have been working to understand the complex mechanisms of Parkinson's disease for more than a decade.

Parkinson's disease strikes around 50,000 people each year, and there are approximately 1 million people with the disease. Parkinson's sufferers include actor Michael J. Fox and former boxing champion Muhammad Ali. There is currently no cure for Parkinson's and available therapies only treat the symptoms. Major contributing factors for getting Parkinson's disease include prolonged exposure to metals or pesticides and other environmental chemicals, according to Kanthasamy.

Parkinson's disease sufferers lack a sufficient amount of a brain chemical called dopamine and the researchers have shown that there is specific protein that is naturally present in human brains that kills the brain cells that make dopamine.

"We have millions of cells in our brains," said Kanthasamy, "In Parkinson's, about 10,000 of these brain cells die; no one knows why."

The researchers discovered that a novel protein, known as protein kinase-C is killing the dopamine-producing cells. They also discovered a compound that neutralizes the cell-killing kinase-C and allows the dopamine-producing cells to survive and function.

The researchers are now looking for additional compounds that also can serve to neutralize protein kinase-C. By identifying more compounds that perform the function of neutralizing kinase-C, they are more likely to locate one that works well and has few side effects.

"Once we find the compound, we need to make sure it's safe. If everything goes well, it could take about 10 years, and then we might be able to see something that will truly make a difference in the lives of people with this disorder," said Kanthasamy.

As people grow older, the cells that produce dopamine naturally die, causing dopamine levels to fall gradually over time. When the levels continue to drop below 60 to 70 percent, the person will start to have Parkinson's disease symptoms.

"Everybody has a little Parkinson's in theory," Kanthasamy said. "But you can't see it until the level of dopamine gets too low." Eliminating the symptoms of Parkinson's disease doesn't require people to be restored to 100 percent of previous dopamine levels, but only to a fraction of that. "If you can bring dopamine up to the 40-50 percent level, you'll see a functioning, normal person," he said.
References:
1. Anumantha Kanthasamy, et al. Iowa State University.

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