Parkinson's disease significantly alleviated with new antibody

The antibody prasinezumab reduced motor impairment in people with rapidly progressive Parkinson's disease. The effect became apparent one year after the start of the respective treatment, an international team of researchers found.

Parkinson's disease affects the central nervous system and is characterised by slow movements, tremors at rest and impaired reflexes. Its specific causes are still unknown to medicine (although it is clear that its incidence in people of the same age varies dramatically from society to society), making the search for cures and treatments blind, and not particularly successful. According to previous clinical studies, a major factor in this disease, diagnosed in about 8.5 million people worldwide, is the misfolding of the protein alpha-synuclein, which is present in human cells. When the misshapen protein accumulates, it disrupts the functioning of neurons and causes them to die.

Parkinson's disease is a chronic condition that steadily progresses. However, modern research shows that it is possible to slow its progression or significantly improve the patient's quality of life. For example, neuroimplants have helped sufferers to walk and keep their balance. And high-intensity interval training has unexpectedly reversed the disease.

Researchers from Germany, the USA, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Ireland have found that the antibody prasinezumab can reduce signs of movement disorders in people diagnosed with rapidly progressive Parkinson's disease. At first, scientists decided that treatment with this antibody does not affect the course of the disease, but a year after the start of the experiment, the conclusion was the opposite. The corresponding scientific publication was published by the journal Nature Medicine.

The study involved 316 patients with Parkinson's disease. Those in whom the disease developed rapidly, determined including the following criteria:

- the patient was taking drugs that block the enzyme monoamine oxidase and maintain the desired activity in the brain;

- the patient had sleep behaviour disorders associated with rapid eye movement;

- the patient had diffuse malignant changes.

All study participants were divided into three nearly equal groups: 105 people received placebo, 105 people received 1,500 milligrams of prasinezumab, and 106 people received 4,500 milligrams of prasinezumab. Among those whose disease was considered rapidly progressive, people who received the prasinezumab drug had reduced signs of motor impairment compared with those who were given a placebo instead of the experimental drug. In patients with slowly developing Parkinson's disease, such a pattern was not revealed. At the same time, the scientists managed to obtain statistically significant results only 52 weeks after the start of the study.

Prasinezumab became the first experimental therapeutic monoclonal (that is, binding to one specific antigen) antibody, which allows to cleave the incorrectly formed alpha-synuclein. In the future, the scientists plan to study the longer-term effects of the drug on people with rapidly progressing Parkinson's disease, as well as to see if, after some time, experimental treatment of patients with slowly progressing disease will have a similar effect.