Skip to main content
Funded Studies

The Transfer of Alpha-Synuclein: Mechanistic and Therapeutic Studies

Objective/Rationale:
This three-year collaborative project between three seasoned Parkinson’s disease (PD) investigators capitalizes on their extensive PD research experience and new understanding of the cell-to-cell spread of PD pathology in pre-clinical and non-human model systems. They will also call on one of the largest published anti-alpha-synuclein monoclonal antibody (MAb) libraries to identify the most promising MAbs so two to three MAbs can be advanced to human clinical trials in patients with PD and/or PD with dementia (PDD).

Project Description:
We have seen recent dramatic advances in understanding how the progression of PD, including progression to PDD, is linked to the transmission or cell-to-cell spread of alpha-synuclin pathology, the signature lesion that defines PD. These finding have created new opportunities to develop antibody-based, disease-modifying immune therapy for patients with PD/PDD. This collaboration will exploit these new insights and harness the researchers’ collective expertise to screen MAbs from one of the largest anti-alpha-synuclein MAb libraries. We will identify the two or three most promising MAbs in novel pre-clinical model systems based upon alpha-synuclein transfer, so they can be advanced to human clinical trials in patients with PD and/or PDD with a pharmaceutical company partner.

Relevance to Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease:
This project addresses one of the greatest unmet needs for PD/PDD patients, which is to develop effective disease-modifying therapies that will arrest or slow progression of PD/PDD. Based on the rapid advance of immune therapy for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from pre-clinical studies to clinical trials in AD patients, one can anticipate a similar rapid advance for the therapeutic approach described here to testing anti-alpha-synuclein MAbs in human clinical trials.

Anticipated Outcome:
The goal is to identify the two to three most promising anti-alpha-synuclein MAbs in pre-clinical model systems so they can be advanced to human clinical trials in patients with PD and/or PDD at the conclusion of the three-year project with a pharmaceutical company partner. 


Researchers

Discover More Grants

Search by Related Keywords

Within the Same Program

Within the Same Funding Year

We use cookies to ensure that you get the best experience. By continuing to use this website, you indicate that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.