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Oxford Team to Use iPS Cells to Study Parkinsons : 26th Jul 10
UK researchers are launching a study into the potential of using a patient’s own cells to treat Parkinson’s disease. An Oxford University team will use induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—which have the ability to become any cell in the human body—to examine the neurological condition. Skin cells will be used to grow the brain neurons that die in Parkinson’s.
The research will not involve the destruction of human embryos. IPS cells were developed in 2007. At the time, scientists said the discovery had the potential to offer many of the advantages of embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical downsides.
Three years on, it seems to be living up to that claim. The team at Oxford University is among the first in the world to use iPS to carry out a large-scale clinical investigation of Parkinson’s, which is currently poorly understood. The research is being funded by Parkinson’s UK.
The charity’s director of research, Kieran Breen, described it as “vital research that will help us better understand the causes of this devastating condition and how it develops and progresses.
We hope the work will pave the way for new and better treatments for people with Parkinson’s in the future.” About 120,000 people in the UK are living with Parkinson’s. BBC. July 13.
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