Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers at McLean Hospital have found that Fetal dopamine cells transplanted into the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease were able to remain healthy and functional for up to 14 years, a finding that could lead to new and better therapies for the illness. The discovery, reported in the June 5, 2014 issue of the journal Cell Reports, could pave the way for researchers to begin transplanting dopamine neurons taken from stem cells grown in laboratories, a way to get treatments to many more patients in an easier fashion.
“We have shown in this paper that the transplanted cells connect and live well and do all the required functions of nerve cells for a very long time,” said Ole Isacson, MD, director of the Neuroregeneration Research Institute at McLean and a Principal Faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
The researchers looked at the brains of 5 patients who got fetal cell transplants over a period of 14 years and found that their dopamine transporters (DAT), proteins that pump the neurotransmitter dopamine, and mitochondria, the power plants of cells, were still healthy at the time the patients died, in each case of causes other than Parkinson’s. The fact that these cells had remained healthy indicated that the transplants had been successful and that the transplanted cells had not been corrupted as some researchers had suggested they likely had been in other studies, said Isacson, lead author of the paper.
“These findings are critically important for the rational development of stem cell-based dopamine neuronal replacement therapies for Parkinson’s,” the paper concluded. So far, about 25 patients worldwide have been treated with this particular method of transplanting fetal dopamine cells over a period of two decades and most saw their symptoms improve markedly, he said.
Fetal cell transplants can reduce both Parkinson’s symptoms for many years and can reduce the need for dopamine replacement drugs, even though they can take months or years to start working, the paper said.
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