ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997 TAG: 9703270031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
Tiny capsules planted in the brain might be able to fend off the disabling symptoms of Huntington's disease, a study in monkeys suggests.
The capsules pump out a substance that protects brain cells. In the monkeys, they sharply reduced the damage from a poison that kills the same brain cells that die in Huntington's.
A study in humans will begin this year in Europe to test the safety of the approach, said researcher Jeffrey Kordower of the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago.
The monkey results were presented in today's issue of the journal Nature by Kordower, scientists from CytoTherapeutics Inc. of Providence, R.I., and researchers elsewhere.
Allan Tobin, scientific director of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, which focuses on Huntington's, called the work exciting but highly experimental.
An estimated 30,000 Americans have Huntington's disease, which is caused by a faulty gene.
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