Study: Stem cell work boosts Parkinson's research

Studying the stem cells of people with Parkinson's disease can help point to better treatments, according to a new government-funded study.

Parkinson's results in tremors and changes in speech, among other symptoms, and cannot be cured. Its cause is unknown but is thought to be tied to genetics.

According to research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), cells from Parkinson's patients show striking signs of stress. They also respond to different treatments depending on the patients' type of Parkinson's, the study said. 

Experts said this represents a step forward because researchers have struggled to find ways to target different forms of the disease.

A portion of the research involved reprogramming patients' skin cells into neurons — cells specific to the nervous system that are destroyed by Parkinson's — and examining the neurons under different conditions.

Margaret Sutherland, an NIH program director, praised the study's insights.

"These findings suggest new opportunities for clinical trials of Parkinson's disease, in which cell reprogramming technology could be used to identify the patients most likely to respond to a particular intervention," she said in a statement.

The study was led by Ole Isacson, a professor of neurology at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School.