China discovers a new target for treating Parkinson's disease: How significant is it?

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe interviews Dr. Michael Grey, a neuroscientist at Loughborough University in the UK

Transcript

00:00Chinese scientists say they've identified a potential breakthrough in

00:04treating Parkinson's disease. They've identified a drug that targets a

00:08particular gene behind the spread of the disease. The team has applied for an

00:13international patent and hopes to produce a treatment in coming years.

00:17Let's talk to Dr. Michael Gray, a neuroscientist at the UK's Loughborough

00:22University. Michael, welcome to the program. For those of us who are not

00:26distinguished neuroscientists, how significant is this? Well I think it's

00:31very significant. It's a really exciting development for Parkinson's

00:34research. Why it's significant is because it's a potential new target for

00:40treatment and we desperately need this because current therapies only manage

00:44symptoms rather than stopping or slowing the neurodegeneration. But we

00:50need to be cautious. The finding is absolutely scientifically robust

00:55but we're still at a very early stage of the of the research. Well these kind

00:59of announcements as you intimate are always tantalizing but not just for the

01:04scientific community but for for patients and their families. Can you give

01:08us an idea of how long before a breakthrough like this makes it through

01:13to being a real difference to patients lives? Well typically at this stage we're

01:20looking at a timeline of 10 to 15 years before the research at this stage would

01:26really translate into something that a patient will see. And there are a number

01:29of roadblocks before we get there. So the next step then would be some extensive

01:35preclinical work. So we've got to confirm how this molecule functions

01:39in human brain cells. We've got to determine if it can be safely targeted.

01:44We then need some rigorous clinical tests. So we've got things called a phase

01:48one, phase two and phase three clinical testing. And you know I think it's

01:54important to point out that Parkinson's research has seen a lot of promising

01:57breakthroughs recently. So it's encouraging but there really is a long

02:01road ahead. Why is Parkinson's so challenging to treat? Well there are a few

02:08reasons. It's a neurodegenerative disease which means that once neurons in the

02:13brain are lost they're incredibly difficult to repair or it varies between

02:20individuals. So it's not at all the same in everyone. Some people progress

02:26very rapidly, others progress slowly. Symptoms differ wildly. The

02:32underlying biology is very complicated and I mean a simple major challenge is

02:39something we call the blood-brain barrier. It's actually difficult to get

02:42drugs into the brain where they're needed. So right now as I said we could

02:46manage symptoms fairly effectively but we don't have a way to slow or stop the

02:50disease itself. Are there any wider applications to perhaps other conditions

02:55on this breakthrough? Potentially yes. I mean it does need to be fully validated

03:02as a therapeutic target. We need to confirm that we'll actually be able to

03:08work to use it in models that closely resemble human Parkinson's. Drug

03:15development isn't simple and that alone is going to be another

03:20challenge. If we get past that we've got human trials that will take years.

03:26There's recruitment and then of course finally there's the regulatory approval

03:31that we need to get through. Michael good to see you. Thank you for that. Dr.

03:35Michael Gray, one of the country's leading neuroscientists at the UK's

03:40Loughborough University.

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