Parkinsonism and immunity

The immune system is to blame for Parkinson's disease

Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+

Specialists are gradually getting into the mechanism of development of Parkinson's disease. A study by German scientists proves that this disease is caused by a malfunction of the immune system. This means that it needs to be treated as an autoimmune.

Team research from The University of Erlangen —Nuremberg began with an unusual observation. They found an increased concentration of T cells in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease. This indicated the autoimmune nature of the disease, notes Eurek Alert (Aggressive immune cells aggravate Parkinson's disease).

To test this assumption, scientists took skin samples from patients with Parkinson's disease and healthy volunteers. Pluripotent stem cells capable of developing into any type of tissue were created on their basis. From them, the researchers grew neurons of the midbrain.

The subjects' own T-cells were added to the obtained samples. As a result, the immune cells of patients with Parkinson's disease killed most of their neurons.

In the culture of neurons of healthy subjects, nothing like this was observed.

The study not only helped to identify one of the mechanisms of the development of the disease, but also pointed to a potential treatment. The treatment of samples with antibodies blocking the action of Th17 limophytes made it possible to avoid significant losses among nerve cells. One of these antibodies is already being used for the treatment of psoriasis.

The findings of German scientists give hope to many people suffering from Parkinson's disease. According to experts, there are about 4.1 million people with this disease in the world today. Its typical symptoms include slowness of movement, stiffness in the muscles and tremor.

Another hope for patients with Parkinson's disease may be the experimental drug NLY01, which is now used to treat diabetes. It affects microglial cells and stops the death of neurons. Experiments on rats have already proven the effectiveness of the drug, now scientists will have to test it on humans.

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