Visual clue to new Parkinson's Disease therapies

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

15-May-2014

Contact: David Garner david.garner@york.ac.uk 44-019-043-22153 University of York

A biologist and a psychologist at the University of York have joined forces with a drug discovery group at Lundbeck in Denmark to develop a potential route to new therapies for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease (PD).

Dr Chris Elliott, of the Department of Biology, and Dr Alex Wade, of the Department of Psychology, have devised a technique that could both provide an early warning of the disease and result in therapies to mitigate its symptoms.

In research reported in Human Molecular Genetics, they created a more sensitive test which detected neurological changes before degeneration of the nervous system became apparent.

In laboratory tests using fruit flies, the researchers discovered that a human genetic mutation that causes Parkinson's amplified visual signals in young flies dramatically. This resulted in loss of vision in later life.

Working with researchers from the Danish pharmaceutical company, H.Lundbeck A/S, they tested a new drug that targets the Parkinson's mutation in flies. This drug prevented the abnormal changes in the flies' visual function.

It is the first time that the compound has been used in vivo and its effectiveness was analysed using the new, sensitive technique devised by Dr Wade. This was originally used for measuring vision in people with eye disease and epilepsy.

Dr Elliott, who is part-funded by Parkinson's UK, said: "If this kind of drug proves to be successful in clinical trials, it would have the potential to bring long-lasting relief from PD symptoms and fewer side effects than existing levadopa therapy."

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Visual clue to new Parkinson's Disease therapies