Category
Research
Research
With Fox Insight — our Foundation’s online
observational study — you can share
information about symptoms, family
neurological history and quality of life by
completing online questionnaires every 90
days. Studying the anonymized responses
of thousands of volunteers over time will
help researchers get a better sense of
how Parkinson’s disease (PD) progresses
differently across individuals and develop
meaningful new therapies for people with PD.
More than 4,800 Fox Insight participants
(and counting) are actively contributing
to Parkinson’s disease research and have
completed over 11,000 study visits.
Anyone, including those without Parkinson’s
disease, can participate to accelerate research
and help speed a cure.
Take 10 minutes to enroll today at
foxinsight.org.
Who’s Using Fox Insight:
YES 78%
NO 22%
WITHOUT PD
MOST COMMONLY
REPORTED
SYMPTOMS
(includes those with and
without PD)
Motor symptom:
46%
52%
72%
25%
2% did not specify
3% did not specify
AVERAGE AGE 60
AVERAGE AGE 49
by MAGGIE McGUIRE KUHL
New results add to the promise of a “vaccine” against the key
Parkinson’s protein alpha-synuclein, which researchers hope may
slow or stop disease progression.
Alpha-synuclein clumps in the cells of nearly
everyone with Parkinson’s disease, and scientists
believe those aggregates are toxic and cause cell
death that leads to symptoms and progression. A
therapy that stops alpha-synuclein toxicity may
stop Parkinson’s in its tracks.
HAS PD
WITH PD
Photo by Sam Ogden
YOUR DAY IS OUR DATA
Harnessing
the Body’s
Natural
Defenses to
Fight PD
SHAKING OR
TREMORS
Non-motor symptom:
DAYTIME
SLEEPINESS
some who did not react in the first trial produced
antibodies with the boost.
“This showed that the body is not desensitized to the
vaccine and can produce alpha-synuclein antibodies
again,” said Kuldip Dave, PhD, who directs MJFF
grantmaking in alpha-synuclein. “And that you don’t
have only one opportunity for treatment — that if
you don’t produce antibodies with a first round of
vaccine, you may with follow-up.”
Vienna, Austria-based biotech AFFiRiS is testing
a drug (called PD01A) to cause the body’s immune
system to create alpha-synuclein antibodies. The
treatment works like the flu vaccine, activating the
body to generate its own natural disease fighters.
The big question is if PD01A will slow or stop
Parkinson’s disease. Trials are not designed to
test efficacy (there is no placebo, for example),
but preliminary observations are promising. Many
antibody responders from the first trial (42 percent)
did not need to increase dopamine medication over
the study period (an average of three years). Now
researchers will work to assess efficacy.
In a 2011 trial, 24 participants with early-stage
Parkinson’s received PD01A. That trial showed the
treatment was safe, and 50 percent of participants
created alpha-synuclein antibodies. Within a year,
however, the “responders” saw antibody levels
decline, leading the researchers to test a “boost”
dose one year later.
In early September the company announced its
“boost” study — funded with $1.04 million from
The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) — showed
an additional vaccine dose is safe and can elicit
antibodies against alpha-synuclein.
“Our Parkinson’s Disease Phase I boost study
data are providing an encouraging signal of
target engagement,” said Vera Bürger, head of
the AFFiRiS Clinical Department. “AFFiRiS is
proactively engaging with the expert community for
planning of next steps.”
AFFiRiS reported that all volunteers completed
the study with no safety concerns. In addition, all
responders from the first trial responded again, and
Beyond AFFiRiS, four other companies also have
therapies in clinical trials that aim to prevent, break
up or clear out clumps of alpha-synuclein.
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The Fox Focus
Fall/Winter 2016