Primate Studies to Evaluate TGF-Alpha for Parkinson's

Primate studies to evaluate the potential of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) to treat Parkinson's disease are being conduced by researchers at the Surgical Neurology Branch of the US National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA).

The studies are focused on analyzing the proliferative effect of TGF-alpha on brain stem cells in those critical regions of the brain affected by Parkinson's disease, as well as defining drug delivery parameters in anticipation of human trials. TGF-alpha will be delivered to the primates using convection-enhanced drug delivery (CED), designed to ensure optimal delivery of the drug to bodily tissues, including the brain.

"Preliminary studies in animal models have shown substantial promise for TGF-alpha for the treatment of Parkinson's disease,” said Dr. Edward Oldfield, chief of the Surgical Neurology Branch and leader of the study. CED delivery was developed in Dr. Oldfield's laboratory.

The study will use a proprietary compound of TGF-alpha produced by Kaleidos Pharma, Inc. (Seattle, WA, USA), under a special agreement with the company. TGF-alpha was originally discovered by Dr. George Todaro, of the US National Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Daniel Twardzik, vice president, research, at Kaleidos Pharma. Studies have shown that TFG-alpha causes replacement of lost nerve cells and reverses symptoms in an established animal model of Parkinson's disease.




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