Researchers developed an anti-inflammatory drug that slows the progression of Parkinson’s disease, with their NIF-supported study published in April in Brain. For the first time, researchers also used advanced imaging to watch the drug’s anti-inflammatory effects happening in the brain in real time.
To examine the drug’s efficacy, they tracked this imaging with PET-MRI biomarkers at the Queensland NIF Node the Centre for Advanced Imaging (at The University of Queensland).
The drug slows Parkinson’s progression by preventing it from killing neurons by reducing inflammation in the brain. Taken orally, the drug is an NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor, which stops the NLRP3 protein from overreacting in the immune system and advancing the disease. The researchers tested the treatment on mice models, which showed that the drug helped improve motor function.
Combining imaging with medication could be a breakthrough in treating Parkinson’s for the 150,000 Australians currently living with the disease, and those yet to be diagnosed. Parkinson’s is the second most common neurological disease in Australia. The researchers’ findings also show promise for treating other inflammatory brain diseases.
The National Health and Medical Research Council, The Michael J Fox Foundation, the Shake it Up Australia Foundation, and the former Inflazome – now a part of Roche – supported this research.
The University of Queensland previously highlighted these findings.