{"id":23641,"date":"2024-02-15T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T07:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/?p=23641"},"modified":"2024-02-14T10:30:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T09:30:57","slug":"researchers-identify-an-immunomodulatory-drug-as-a-potential-treatment-for-parkinsons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/2024\/02\/researchers-identify-an-immunomodulatory-drug-as-a-potential-treatment-for-parkinsons-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers identify an immunomodulatory drug as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parkinson\u2019s disease is one of the most frequent disorders affecting movement and the nervous system.<\/span> Currently, approximately 4.1 million people suffer from Parkinson\u2019s disease throughout the globe, in <\/span>Spain<\/span> alone more than 300,000 people are affected. Typical symptoms of the disease are slowness of movement, rigidity, frequent shaking and an increasingly stooped posture. The cause is the continuous death of nerve cells in the brain, which produce the messenger substance dopamine.<\/span> Scientists are working to gain insights into the mechanisms which lead to the loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent and cumulative data point to the involvement of brain cells, called astrocytes as key players in <\/span>neuroinflammatory responses<\/span> in Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/span>. Researchers in stem cells and neurodegeneration from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Dr. Consiglio and Dr. Raya, in collaboration with neurologists form the Movement Disorders Unit at the Hospital Clinic (Dr. Tolosa and Dr. Garrido) <\/span>showed that in Parkinson\u2019s disease, <\/span>astrocytes are reactive and<\/span> attack and kill nerve cells which produce dopamine in the midbrain.<\/span> The findings were published online in Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team based its research on <\/span>the use of human skin cells derived <\/span>from affected patients and healthy subjects<\/span>. <\/span>These skin cells were converted into stem cells<\/span> (iPSC)<\/span>, and differentiated into midbrain nerve cells specific to the <\/span>unaffected individual and astrocytes specific to the patients. They found that astrocytes derived from the iPSC of patients with Parkinson, secreted high levels of an inflammation-promoting molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which <\/span>killed a large number of the nerve cells, but this did not appear to be the case with healthy <\/span>astrocytes<\/span>. \u201cWhile mild inflammation can be beneficial for many neural processes, the overproduction of IL-6 may worsen the symptoms of <\/span>PD<\/span> and may be an important therapeutic target,\u201d said co-<\/span>first and <\/span>senior study author <\/span>Dr. Meritxell Pons, <\/span>from<\/span> IDIBELL<\/span> and <\/span>the <\/span>University of Barcelona<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Importantly, adding to the neuronal cultures the IL-6 antibody <\/span>which block<\/span>s<\/span> the effect of <\/span>IL-6 secreting astrocytes<\/span>, <\/span>Tocilizumab (an <\/span>antibody which is already being used daily in the hospital to treat <\/span>Rheumatoid arthritis), <\/span>largely prevent the death of the nerve cells<\/span>, said Dr. Manel Juan, an immunologist of SJD Barcelona Children\u2019s Hospital and Hospital Cl\u00ednic and co-author of the study.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, when they <\/span>examined the state of <\/span>astrocytes<\/span> in <\/span>postmortem<\/span> brains of Parkinson\u2019s disease patients, <\/span>they found <\/span>an unusually high number of <\/span>astrocytes expressing IL6<\/span> in the midbrain of Parkinson\u2019s patients<\/span>, even at early stage of the disease<\/span>.<\/span> These cells are commonly found in the brains of patients suffering from diseases in which the immune system attacks the brain<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although<\/span> culture system did not include many cell types involved in potentially relevant immune responses<\/span>,<\/span> o<\/span>ur findings highlight the potential role of astrocyte-mediated inflammatory signaling in PD, opening new avenues for clinical intervention,\u201d sa<\/span>ys Prof.<\/span> A. Consiglio, head of the Stem Cell and Neurodegeneration group at the IDIBELL and professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona. Her<\/span> group is about to launch a study on inflammation in early PD. “If we could find the right way to modulate the immune system we may be able to slow the disease process”<\/span>, Consiglio added.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reference of the article<\/span><\/b>:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meritxell Pons-Espinal, Lucas Blasco-Agell, Irene Fernandez-Carasa, Pol Andr\u00e9s-Benito, Angelique di Domenico, Yvonne Richaud-Patin, Valentina Baruffi, Laura Marruecos, Llu\u00eds Espinosa, Alicia Garrido, Eduardo Tolosa, Michael J Edel, Manel Juan Otero, Jos\u00e9 Luis Mosquera, Isidre Ferrer, Angel Raya, Antonella Consiglio. <\/span>Blocking IL-6 signaling prevents astrocyte-induced neurodegeneration in an iPSC-based model of Parkinson’s disease.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

JCI Insight 2024 Feb 8;9(3):e163359.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

doi: 10.1172\/jci.insight.163359.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.<\/em><\/p>\n

IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Astrocytes in the brains of Parkinson’s patients overexpress the inflammatory cytokine IL-6, which induces the death of dopaminergic neurons. The results have been obtained thanks to obtaining induced pluripotent stem cells from Parkinson’s patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":23642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[301,188,299,196,290,200],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neuroscience-area","category-neuroscience-program","category-regenerative-medicine-area","category-regenerative-medicine-program","category-stem-cell-potency","category-stem-cells-and-neurodegeneratiion"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2025-06-09 05:01:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibell.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}