Stem cell hope for neuro patients

By M H Ahssan

AIIMS Starts Trials For Treatment Of Parkinson’s Disease, Enrols Five Affected People

There may be life beyond dopamine therapy for the six crore-odd Parkinson’s patients in the country. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has recently started stem cell trials for the treatment of Parkinson’s and the neurology department has enrolled five patients for it.

Though in the nascent stage, experts say stem cell treatment is likely to be the preferred treatment mode for neurological disorders like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and the lot in the near future. Stem cell therapy was, in fact, the recurrent theme in the 2nd Asian and Oceanian Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Congress and the 7th Asia Pacific Parkinson’s Association organised by AIIMS neurology department some days ago.

Usually extracted from embryos, bone marrow or the umbilical cord, stem cells are primitive, undifferentiated cells that have the ability to grow into any tissue type. They are being hailed as the dream treatment for a wide range of ‘‘incurable’’ diseases. “We have started stem cell trials for the Parkinson’s treatment. It is a long process, where we’ll use bone marrow stem cells harvested from patients. The cells, after being regrown in the lab, will be surgically inserted into the patient’s brain. As we would be using the patient’s own stem cells, there would be no chances of rejection,” said Dr Sumit Singh, associate professor and co-investigator of the stem cell trail at AIIMS. Headed by Dr Madhuri Behari, head of the neurology department, AIIMS, the team started the trial in Jan. “We plan to inject the stem cells back into the patients in the coming month. But it is too early to predict the results,” said Dr Singh.

After Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s is the second most common neuro-degenerative disorder. It is estimated that worldwide 1% people above 65 years and 3% people above the age of 80 are affected by it. “The reason for the disease is not known, but with timely medical intervention, degeneration can be delayed. But factors like genetic composition and environmental toxins are found to be responsible for the disease,” said Dr Behari, the organizing chairperson of the meet. Deliberating on the new trends in the treatment of Parkinson’s, experts cautioned that “hype should be kept aware from hope” as trials are in progress.

Dr Rupam Borgohain, neurologist at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, who is also experimenting with stem cells in treating Parkinson’s disease, said, “It is definitely the way to go, but it is important to keep hype away from hope. It is in the trial phase and we will have to wait. Stem cell tissues have proved to be beneficial in treating Parkinson’s in a few cases. That us hope to move forward.”