Subtitles section Play video
-
I was thinking about the first time
-
I was given two frozen vials of embryonic stem cells.
-
Each vial cost $5,000.
-
And my boss said, "Now you grow them."
-
That was ten years ago.
-
And now look at my lab.
-
We grow the cells routinely.
-
For me, it's such a good thing
-
to see how the science has progressed in this field.
-
Hi, I'm Amy Adams with California's Stem Cell Agency.
-
We asked you to submit questions
-
about Parkinson's disease and stem cell research
-
through our blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
-
Today we're at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging,
-
where Dr. Xianmin Zeng
-
is going to answer those questions
-
and also talk about her own Parkinson's disease research.
-
Let's go in.
-
Can you start by telling us
-
a little bit about Parkinson's disease,
-
what it is and what the symptoms are?
-
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder
-
which leads to progressive deterioration
-
of motor function,
-
and the cause is the loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells
-
in part of the midbrain called Substantia Nigra.
-
The primary symptoms for Parkinson's disease
-
is tremor, slowness in movement,
-
impaired balance, and stiffness.
-
It was ten years ago when you first started working with...
-
embryonic stem cells and Parkinson's disease.
-
Now you're getting close to clinical trials.
-
It is a long, slow path to get in to people.
-
What keeps you motivated?
-
I would say... to keep me motivated is...
-
My goal is to make a difference.
-
My hope is that what I'm working now today
-
will someday benefit the patient.
-
And at this moment,
-
we have decided on an embryonic stem cell line
-
which we know can be used for clinical purpose,
-
and we have generated two lots of dopaminergic neurons
-
suitable for direct transplantation into the brain
-
to hope those cells
-
will replace the lost cells and function in the brain.
-
So we are now in a position to go to the FDA
-
to file for a phase 1 clinical trial
-
in the next two years, that's my estimation,
-
so, in hoping that we would be able to run a clinical trial
-
in the next three to five years.
-
Why do we need a cure for the disease?
-
Because it's a terrible disease,
-
and there are about one million Americans suffer the disease,
-
and with the aging population now,
-
the number is expected to increase,
-
and about 40% of the people
-
affected by Parkinson's disease are under the age of 60.
-
So there is a clear impact of society
-
in terms of losing productivity.
-
One of the people who wrote in and asked us a question
-
said that the person's grandfather had Parkinson's disease,
-
"so what is the likelihood that I will also get it?"
-
Parkinson's disease, first of all,
-
is a disease described as a sporadic disease,
-
which means, actually, you don't know the cause.
-
85% of the Parkinson's disease cases are sporadic,
-
so the chance that one person's grandfather has the disease,
-
it may increase the person's chance of having the disease,
-
but keep in mind that the disease is more sporadic.
-
So, you began working with embryonic stem cells
-
right at the very beginning,
-
and then since that time,
-
people have learned how to reprogram adult cells
-
like skin cells, into an embryonic-like state,
-
so they are more or less equivalent to embryonic stem cells,
-
and these are the iPS cells that we hear about a lot.
-
And you're now working with embryonic cells
-
and iPS cells.
-
Why do you work with both cell types?
-
Because iPS cells provided additional cell source
-
for producing the right type of dopaminergic neurons,
-
also because you now have a cell source
-
coming from both normal and patient subjects,
-
and you can use the cells to test different drugs
-
to be better predictor of the potential clinical benefit.
-
So a person wrote in asking about the different types of stem cells.
-
The person asked, "What types of stem cells
-
are best suited for treating Parkinson's disease?"
-
I think this is a question nobody can now provide an answer,
-
and that's why people need to work
-
with different types of the stem cells
-
in order to find out exactly this question:
-
What type of the stem cells is the best?
-
So that's why I'm working on both ES cells and iPS cells.
-
There are a lot of people working in the field,
-
and with the funding, with the right timing,
-
and the right training,
-
we're ready to make new discoveries.