New research to halt Parkinson's, Michael J. Fox remains hopeful

By Tom Blackwell

A decade ago, Michael J. Fox predicted Parkinson's -- the disease that has afflicted him for 17 years -- would be cured in 10 years. No such breakthrough is close, but new research at the University of Windsor could halt its advance.
Each time University of Windsor graduate student Katie Facecchia sees the B.C-raised actor on television, talking about his life-and-death battle with Parkinson's disease, she "can't help but think -- just hang on, there'll be something soon."
Ms. Facecchia is part of a team of researchers from the school's biochemistry and psychology departments, led by Prof. Siyaram Pandey, who believe they have made a research breakthrough that laboratory tests have proven halt the advance of Parkinson's.
Prof. Pandey said the treatment is a water-soluble formulation of the natural chemical compound - coenzyme Q10 - that stops further degeneration of neurons in the brains of lab rats.
The currently non-curable neurodegenerative disease is caused by the death of brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that carries signals between the nerves in the brain that control movement.
The "Co-Q10" compound cannot reverse the damage, cautioned Prof. Pandey, but he said it can halt its progression.
"As the disease progresses, the neurons die at a faster rate," said Prof. Pandey, "Usually, by the time it's diagnosed, 50 per cent of the neurons are gone. The only treatment now is for the symptoms, but the dosage has to always be increased, because the neurons continue to die. If we can protect those neurons that are left over, it could lead to a normal life."
He said the research so far has "shown amazing results . . . the near-complete protection of brain cells."
The findings have been published in the academic journal BMC Neuroscience, and the team has begun collaborating with a pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey, Zymes LLC.
Prof. Pandey said he hopes their research will proceed to clinical testing soon.
"We're still at the pre-clinical stage," he said. "But the results are promising."
Mr. Fox officially launched his research foundation in Canada on Thursday, saying he still wakes up every day believing the illness will be beaten during his lifetime, but now recognizes the advances will come in small, often unspectacular steps.
"I have learned that 99% of progress is failure," said the 47-year-old former star of TV and movies.
"You're not so much proving things as disproving things, and that is a fundamental part of it," he said. "The brain is like space, like the depths of the ocean: it's this frontier we just don't understand ... I'd love to get the answers, but if we can find the right questions, that's just as important for me and just as exciting."
He later suggested that scientists will have figured out the disease within 30 or 40 years, "if not a lot sooner," but said he was not driven by a desire to find a cure for himself.
"People have a hard time believing this - [but] I sometimes forget that I'm even affected by this," he said. "I want to enable and empower those who have the intelligence and the knowledge and the wherewithal to solve the problem ."
Throughout a 20-minute news-conference appearance in Toronto, Mr. Fox swayed back and forth under the disorder's influence, his hands clenching the table in front of him and his voice faltering at times, but kept his audience rapt with often-witty responses.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation - which has dispersed $150-million in the United States, Canada and elsewhere since its founding in 2000 - has just been given charitable status in Canada, a fact that Mr. Fox said meant a lot to him as a Canadian.
He and the foundation's CEO, Katie Hood, heaped praise on the event's co-hosts, the McEwan Centre for Regenerative Medicine - cutting-edge stem-cell researchers - and Toronto Western, which Ms. Hood called one of the world's hotbeds of Parkinson's science.
The Fox foundation itself has earned positive reviews for its focused, aggressive approach to funding research, designed to ensure scientists share information and quickly pounce on any breakthroughs.
The actor, who first found fame in the 1980s NBC series Family Ties, and later in movies such as Back to the Future, played a much different role in recent years as a high-profile opponent of George W. Bush's decision to bar U.S. government funding of research on embryonic stem cells.
That funding decision has since been overturned by Barack Obama, who succeeded Mr. Bush as president. And scientists at Thursday's event suggested stem cells - with their ability to convert into other types of cells - may help them understand how Parkinson's affects the brain, but are unlikely to be developed into a "magical" cure.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fox dismissed complaints that his research-focused charity will sap donor dollars from the Parkinson's Society, a Canadian group dedicated to supporting and advocating for the country's 100,000 patients, stressing that the foundation is not launching an "invasion" of this country.
"I really feel that a rising tide lifts all boats," he said. "I think in the 10 years we've been doing this, we've raised Parkinson's awareness to the point where most organizations and most people endeavouring to help the Parkinson's community are getting more attention than they did."