Researchers from the Center for Neurosciences of Coimbra in Portugal and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, used lab mice infected with a rodent disease similar to Huntington’s–an affliction of the central nervous system that can cause involuntary movements and difficulty eating. First they identified a protein that stimulates the growth of brain cells, which would counteract the damage caused by the disease. The hard part, though, was getting this protein into the brain. The scientists engineered a virus that, when injected into the bloodstream, “infected” the brain cells. Rather than making the patient sick, it endowed the brain cells with the ability to make the neuron-growth-stimulating protein. The treatment alleviated the mice’s physical symptoms and stopped the disease’s progress. The scientists are now trying to use the same technique on Parkinson’s patients. Treatments may take another five to 10 years.
