Diabetes drug also works against Parkinson's

Parkinson treatable with a diabetes drug?
Sometimes, already known medicines show surprising new fields of application. So also with a diabetes drug, which apparently can also be used for the treatment of Parkinson's. Scientists from the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH), the University of Tübingen and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Tübingen have demonstrated this in a recent study.

A diabetes drug could open up new treatment options for certain forms of Parkinson's disease. (Image: rob3000 / fotolia.com).

According to the researchers, the diabetes drug metformin has a very positive effect on certain forms of Parkinson's disease. It interferes with the energy balance of the cells and prevents their death, reports the research team led by Dr. Ing. Julia Fitzgerald from the HIH of his current research results. These were published in the specialist magazine "Brain".

Certain protein of crucial importance
In cell culture studies, Tübingen neuroscientists were able to identify a protein that plays an important role in the energy balance of cells. "We looked at cells from a Parkinson's disease patient and saw that there is a lack of an important protein that regulates mitochondrial energy production. Julia Fitzgerald. If this protein is missing, the energy balance is permanently disturbed and this could lead to cell death and ultimately to the onset of Parkinson's disease.

Metformin protects the cells
Parkinson's is characterized by the dying of nerve cells in a brain area that controls the movements. The identified protein causes the mitochondria ("cell power plants") to produce energy independently of actual consumption, which also creates an excess of free oxygen radicals. This damages the cell and leads to long-term cell aging and cell death, reports the HIH. According to Dr. Fitzgerald acts the diabetes drug metformin "here as a brake. It slows down the formation of energy and oxygen radicals and thus protects the cells from negative effects. "

On the way to individualized medicine
The study results are further evidence, according to the researchers, that diabetes medications seem to have a positive influence on certain forms of Parkinson's disease. Recently, an Anglo-American research collaboration has shown that another drug can reduce movement disorders in Parkinson's patients, Dr. Fitzgerald. The new findings are another amount for the development of an individualized medicine, with which in the future targeted the underlying individual disease triggers in patients should be treated.

Hope for new treatment options
After all, the cause of Parkinson's disease varies from person to person, and hereditary predispositions as well as environmental influences play a role in the development of the disease, explains Dr. med. Fitzgerald. "In the long term, our study will benefit patients whose defective energy production in the cells leads to the disease," the neuroscientist continues. Currently there are no drugs in Parkinson's that can halt or slow down the disease process. Only a treatment of the symptoms is possible. Thus, the worldwide approximately ten million sufferers can so far only insufficiently helped. (Fp)