Therapeutic Cloning Works in Mice With Parkinson's

After inducing the stem cells to develop into dopamine neurons, each Parkinson's mouse was "treated" with the insertion of only those neurons derived from its own cells.

Subsequent behavioral tests revealed that this one-to-one therapeutic cloning technique significantly improved the neurological function of the mice without any adverse immune response. The observed improvement was found to be much better than that achieved by a group of control mice that were given dopamine cells cloned from a single mouse line, as in prior studies.

Compared with the one-to-one treated mice, the non-matched mice had poorer immune responses, poorer motor control improvements, and a mild degree of inflammation.

"It had been thought that this process would be way too cumbersome to carry out," said Tabar. "But this validates that it is feasible and superior to using non-matched genetic material."

Michael Jakowec, an assistant professor of neurology with the George and MaryLou Boone Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Research Center at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, cautioned that the leap to humans might be "gigantic."

"You see a lot of failures in studies that try to translate success from rodents to humans," Jakowec said. "So, it may be premature to take this to human trial just yet. Perhaps it should first be replicated in primates. But it certainly does open up a new avenue of therapeutic strategy, which may ultimately benefit patients down the road."

More information

For more on Parkinson's treatment options, visit the National Parkinson Foundation.

SOURCES: Viviane Tabar, M.D., associate professor, neurosurgery, department of neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City; Michael Jakowec, Ph.D., assistant professor, neurology, George and MaryLou Boone Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Research Center, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles; March 23, 2008,Nature Medicine, online