Latest News in Parkinson Disease: Multidisciplinary Care for Advanced Disease, Fruit Compound Shows Promise, and More

An overview of the latest news in Parkinson disease (PD) reported across MJH Life Sciences^™.

Multidisciplinary Approach for Device-Assisted Therapy in Advanced Parkinson Disease

In a Peer Exchange series by NeurologyLive^®, titled “Recognizing and Managing Advanced Parkinson Disease,” panelists spoke on the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach in the assessment of device-assisted therapy for patients with advanced PD.

Noting the heterogeneous nature of PD, panelists said that in considering approaches such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), a multidisciplinary evaluation to determine the main factor contributing to disability may be warranted, as understanding motor and nonmotor burden could help to determine the surgical target in DBS.

With surgical revisions in patients with DBS occurring in approximately 3% of centers experienced with the procedure and up to 15% in centers with less experience, ensuring the availability of all necessary data could prevent the likelihood of such cases and improve education and uptake of other advanced therapies, noted panelists.

Fruit Compound May Prevent, Reverse Neurological Damage of PD

According to a study on mice conducted by researchers of Johns Hopkins Medicine, the fruit compound farnesol, found naturally in herbs, berries, and fruit, may prevent and reverse neuron degeneration caused by PD.

Published in Science Translational Medicine, the compound was indicated to function by deactivating the PARIS protein, which is considered to play a key role in the pathogenesis of PD. Mice were fed either a farnesol-supplemented diet or a regular mouse diet for 1 week in the study, followed by an administration of preformed fibrils of alpha synuclein.

In their findings, mice of the intervention group performed better on a strength and coordination test designed to detect advancement of PD symptoms and exhibited 2 times as many healthy dopamine neurons than mice of the control group. Although farnesol is naturally produced, researchers cautioned that safe doses of the compound have not been determined in humans and would warrant further analysis in a controlled clinical setting.

Novel Therapy Improves Brain Energetic Metabolism in Patients With PD

According to positive topline results of the phase 2 REPAIR clinical trials, CNM-Au8 (Clene Nanomedicine) was associated with significantly improved brain energetic metabolism in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and PD.

As reported by NeurologyLive^®, CNM-Au8, an aqueous suspension of catalytically active, clean-surfaced, faceted gold nanocrystals, was orally administered daily each morning to patients diagnosed with MS within 15 years of screening or in patients with PD who have been diagnosed within 3 years of screening for 12 weeks.

In findings derived via phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging, the treatment exhibited a statistically significant increase in the study’s primary end point, the mean change in the brain ratio of oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide to reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, by an average of 0.589 units (10.4%).