How your brain processes dopamine may define whether you’re more prone to bust your can or sit back and slack.  This, according to a new study from Harvard Medical School and Vanderbilt University published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

WebMD reports that study participants who had higher levels of dopamine in two areas of the brain known to play a role in how we process reward and motivation were busy bees. Those who were less willing to work hard had higher levels of dopamine in a different brain area which is involved in emotion and perception of risk.

Dopamine is a buzz word for people with Parkinson’s disease (PD), whose brains produce lower levels of the neurotransmitter.  While this lack of dopamine itself is known to lead to PD motor symptoms such as rigidity and slowness of movement, it may also create biochemical reactions throughout the brain that can lead to non-motor symptoms such as apathy and depression. Continue reading “Dopamine: Drill Sergeant or Lazybones?” »

Researchers funded by The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) have identified the best clinical scale for measuring patient response to therapies to treat dyskinesia, the debilitating, uncontrollable movements that are often a side effect of Parkinson’s disease (PD) drugs.

The study, led by co-coordinating principal investigators Chris Goetz, MD, and Glenn Stebbins, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center, demonstrated that the Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale (UDysRS) most sensitively tracks treatment effect.

Establishing UDysRS as a validated tool for use in dyskinesia clinical trials could have important implications moving forward. In the past, clinicians used several different scales measuring dyskinesia, without any real evidence that they accurately measured if drugs were working. Now, researchers should be able to better design accurate clinical trials to verify that a dyskinesia drug is — or isn’t — working.

It’s an important step toward bringing dyskinesia-targeted drugs closer to pharmacy shelves.

MJFF spoke with Stebbins and Scientific Advisory Board member David Weiner, MD, to gauge what the study results could mean for the development of new dyskinesia therapies, a major unmet need for those living with Parkinson’s today.  Read the entire interview here.  Excerpts are below. Continue reading “Weighing Different Scales: Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale Comes out on Top, Could Speed Development of New Dyskinesia Treatments” »

In spring 2009, personal genetics company 23andMe announced that it would recruit 10,000 people with Parkinson’s to contribute DNA for research to illuminate the role of genetics in PD. Three years later, 7,500 people with Parkinson’s across 49 U.S. states and 26 countries have joined what has become the largest Parkinson’s community for genetic research worldwide.  23andMe researchers are making progress toward building a greater picture of the underlying causes of the disease, genetic and otherwise.

“23andMe’s unique initiative leveraging DNA technology, the Internet, and patient participation is already enhancing understanding of Parkinson’s disease,” says Todd Sherer, PhD, CEO of The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF). “Ongoing results could open new approaches to developing drugs.”

There are many reasons for conducting genetic studies tied to PD.  One is to better predict an individual’s risk for developing the disease in the long-term.   Another reason is that, by studying genetic mutations, researchers hope to better understand the molecular processes taking place during the course of PD, in both genetic and sporadic cases of the disease. This could lead to improved drugs to counteract these processes.

MJFF has been a publicity partner to the PD Research Community, helping spread the word to people with Parkinson’s about the opportunity to speed research progress by mailing in a saliva sample to 23andMe to collect the DNA it needs to analyze people’s genetics.

Today, Sherer, Michael J. Fox, and Foundation Co-Founder Debi Brooks are visiting 23andMe’s Mountain View, California offices to see the operation first hand.

“The Foundation has played a major role in research progress we’ve made to this point,” says Emily Drabant, PhD, Research Development Manager at 23andMe. “Today’s visit gives us the chance to share updates with Todd, Michael, and Debi personally — and think through opportunities to continue our fruitful collaboration.”

Read on to learn more about some of 23andMe’s advances in research.

Continue reading “Navigating the ‘Many Roads to Rome’: MJFF Partner 23andMe Drives Genetic Research Toward Drugs to Treat Parkinson’s Disease” »

Americans with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) who struggle with the levodopa-induced motor complications of wearing off and dyskinesia may soon have another treatment option: A levodopa-carbidopa gel delivered directly into the small intestine is moving closer to market, and test results suggest it may offer the same benefits as deep brain stimulation (DBS) — without the need for brain surgery.

Abbott Pharmaceuticals this week announced positive results from a phase 3 double-blind clinical study of its levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG), finding that LCIG significantly decreased “off” time (when the medication’s effects wear off) and increased “on” time without dyskinesia.  The Phase 3 results from this study are in line with interim results reported last year from an open-label study of LCIG.  (LCIG treatment is already available in Europe under the brand name Duodopa.) Continue reading “Novel Gel Formulation of Parkinson’s Drug May Limit “On/Off” Roller Coaster Ride” »

The Michael J. Fox Foundation Partners with Sanofi on Area of Critical Need for People with Parkinson’s Disease

Cognitive dysfunction is a troublesome reality for many people living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Symptoms can range from slowness of thinking or difficulty organizing and sequencing one’s thoughts to memory loss to the eventual onset of dementia.

Even more troubling is that there are few treatment options for people suffering from these symptoms.

“Parkinson’s drugs that we have today focus mainly on the motor symptoms of the disease,” says David Weiner, MD, a Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) Scientific Advisory Board member. “But for many, cognitive impairment can be a more significant hurdle to navigating daily life. A therapy to treat these symptoms is therefore one of the principal areas of unmet medical need for people with PD.” Continue reading “Cognition-Targeted Research Catches On” »

Many with Parkinson’s experience depression, and it’s not just the kind of reactive depression felt by those learning of their diagnosis.  In PD, this symptom can be caused by the biological processes associated with what is happening during the disease course.

Physicians have long prescribed antidepressants for Parkinson’s patients.  But since the nature of depression in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has its own unique causes, questions continually arise as to whether certain antidepressants are actually right for people with the disease.  To date, doctors have had to largely base their understandings of what works and what doesn’t work on observational evidence from what they’ve seen in their own practice, an inexact science at best.

But today, more precise results from a clinical study published in the journal Neurology confirm that two common drugs, paroxetine (brand name Paxil) and venlafaxine extended release (brand name Effexor XR), may ease depression in people with Parkinson’s without aggravating the motor symptoms of the disease. Continue reading “Encouraging News for Parkinson’s Patients Battling Depression” »

A recent study published in the journal Neurology found that diets high in flavonoid-rich foods may lower Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk in men.  Foods high in flavonoids — compounds that occur naturally in some plants — include berries, red wine, tea, and eggplant.

Certain flavonoids show the positive effects of antioxidants, molecules that limit the effects of oxidative stress, which occurs when the body is unable to get rid of waste by-products that result from chemical reactions taking place throughout the body.  Antioxidants have been trendy of late, with multiple studies showing that diets rich in antioxidants could protect against a variety of diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, some cancers, and heart disease.

The new research, from Harvard University and University of East Anglia in Great Britain, was conducted on a large scale over a 20-year period: Around 130,000 men and women participated, of whom more than 800 developed Parkinson’s. Male participants who ate the most flavonoids were 40 percent less likely to develop PD than those who ate the fewest. No similar link was found in women. The gender specificity may open new avenues for future research, especially since men’s Parkinson’s risk overall is somewhat higher than women’s.

Continue reading “A Flavonoid a Day Keeps Parkinson’s Away? Maybe” »

Michael J. Fox Foundation Co-Founder and Executive Vice Chairman Debi Brooks has not only been instrumental in conceiving, structuring and fundraising for the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI); she also is participating in the study as a control.

This is the first time Debi has volunteered for clinical research, and she is blogging about what she learns along the way. In her latest video entry, she reflects on an inspirational PPMI event where she had the opportunity to speak with others who have volunteered to take part in the study. Debi was deeply moved by their stories of willingness. 

  Continue reading “Debi’s Blog: Tales of Volunteerism and Willingness” »

Many people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have trouble sleeping. In addition to a general difficulty falling and then staying asleep, some deal with restless leg syndrome (an uncontrollable urge to move the legs during sleep). Others experience intense nightmares.

Some scientists believe that the reasons to study the relationship between disordered sleep and Parkinson’s may go beyond quality of life issues for patients: Namely, understanding the biological processes behind REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) may hold clues to PD-related processes taking place before motor symptoms become evident. This could make it possible to diagnose the disease earlier.

Recently, a new study from the Mayo Clinic provided further evidence that RBD might be linked to Parkinson’s, demonstrating that those with RBD are twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease within four years of diagnosis of RBD.

What does this mean for people living with Parkinson’s today?

Continue reading “Something to Sleep On: Researchers Connect Bedtime Disorder to Higher Risk of Parkinson’s Disease” »

Austria-based biotech AFFiRiS AG has enrolled the first patients in an early stage clinical trial of a first-of-its-kind vaccine approach to treating Parkinson’s disease, called PD01.

Just this past summer, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) awarded $1.5 million to AFFiRiS  for their  vaccine targeting alpha-synuclein, a protein implicated in Parkinson’s whose clumping is the pathological hallmark of the disease.  The Phase I study is testing the safety and efficacy of PD01. The hope is that PD01 will stimulate the production of antibodies that bind to alpha-synuclein, clearing it from the brain and slowing the progression of the disease.  Continue reading “Parkinson’s Disease Vaccine Study Enrolls First Patients” »