Travel nursing: A new Parkinson’s disease treatment

Travel nursing professionals are always on the lookout for new treatments for their patients, especially when it comes to chronic, life-altering diseases.

A recent study revealed that lab-grown dopamine neurons derived from stem cells have survived and thrived within the brains of Parkinson's disease patients for as long as 14 years.

"These findings are critically important for the rational development of stem cell-based dopamine neuronal replacement therapies for Parkinson's," the researchers wrote in the paper published in the June 2014 issue of Cell Reports.

As study co-author Dr. Ole Isacson​, of Harvard University and McLean Hospital, explained, the tremors and other symptoms common in the degenerative disorder are triggered by the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells. Yet these patients can undergo a procedure to receive healthy dopamine-producing brain cells that have the ability to battle decay.

Until this research, the question was how long the transplanted cells would stay healthy. 

In the study, Isacson and his colleagues examined the brains of five deceased participants who had received transplants over the course of 14 years. They found healthier levels of proteins that are known as dopamine transporters, along with improved levels of mitochondria.

Resisting brain decay
The findings suggest that transplanted dopamine neurons can stay healthy and functional in the long-term, resisting decay as the patients aged, according to Isacson. Essentially, the brain cells stabilize motor function, allowing patients to carry daily activities more easily. 

The results corroborate stem cells as a source for transplant-ready dopamine neurons, contradicting earlier expectations that transplanted cells would become corrupted with time. Most of the two dozen or so patients who have received the infusions over the past 20 years have experienced improvement of symptoms.

In the U.S., as many as 60,0000 people are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease each year, according to the National Parkinson Foundation. Medical staffing professionals may know that the neurological disease is the 14th leading cause of death in the U.S. with a 4.6 percent leap in prevalence in 2010 over the preceding year, according to an analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although the transplant treatment is not common, with most access limited to patients participating in clinical trials, Isacson said the findings are very promising. He believes the successful long-term transplant of dopamine neurons may lead to improved therapies for Parkinson's disease as well as other neurodegenerative conditions.