If you are not familiar with GDNF, we encourage you to read these blogs:
Reporter Leaps to Chronicle GDNF Controversy
Grassroots Connection - The Bird in the Hand for Parkinson’s Patients
The short version is that GDNF is an experimental gene (removed 8/4/06) therapy infused into the brains of a few people with Parkinson's. Some people receiving the GDNF treatment had remarkable results during the clinical trials. However, the company sponsoring the research decided not to continue with it, citing safety concerns. They also claimed their statistics showed the treatment was not significantly effective.
Now, the Journal of Neuroscience Methods is publishing an article by three neurological researchers from the New York University School of Medicine arguing the statistical methods used in the study of GDNF overlooked some of the positive results that the study captured.
It appears the study failed to recognize that some subjects had better-than-expected results. We may learn there was also a group that did poorly. Either way, there are many people in the PD community who would like to understand the data more. Perhaps we can identify people with PD who would respond well to GDNF treatment, as well as those who would respond poorly to it.
A New GDNF Study? Scroll down to about paragraph eight in this article on the Web site from the Medical Center at the University of California, San Francisco. It discusses two gene therapy clinical trials. A few paragraphs down, it states some of the physicians are planning a GDNF trial. This is a bit of a surprise. We are working to verify the story.
So, as I finish this blog today, I am a few minutes into the hold music at UCSF; I've heard a good portion of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I am developing a sense of empathy for those of you who have to wait on hold many times a week or a month while you are waiting to get appointments, ask questions, fill prescriptions, etc.
When I reach the physician directing the research, or the clinical trial manager from UCSF, I'll pass on what I learn.
Technorati links: GDNF, Parkinson/'s disease,Parkinson's, Parkinson/'s
