Date: 2014-08-26
Type of information: Presentation of results at a congress
phase:
Announcement: presentation of the results at the Federation of European Physiological Societies (FEPS) 2014 Congress in Budapest
Company: Prothena (Ireland)
Product: biomarkers for Parkinson\'s disease ( quantitative pilomotor axon-reflex test (QPART) technique)
Action mechanism:
Disease: Parkinson\'s disease
Therapeutic area: Neurodegenerative diseases
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On August 26, 2014, Prothena Corporation, a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel antibodies for the potential treatment of diseases that involve protein misfolding or cell adhesion, announced that Timo Siepmann, MD, will present new interim data from an ongoing clinical study sponsored by Prothena that identify potential new biomarkers for Parkinson\'s disease. Dr. Siepmann, Research Fellow at Dresden University Hospital, will present the data in a session entitled \'Quantitative pilomotor axon-reflex test to assess autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson\'s disease,\' at the Federation of European Physiological Societies (FEPS) 2014 Congress in Budapest, Hungary on August 27, 2014. Peripheral autonomic nerve function has been assessed through iontophoresis of phenylephrine to elicit axon- reflex mediated piloerection in an indirect skin region outside the region of iontophoretic stimulation using the quantitative pilomotor axon-reflex test (QPART). The study aimed to assess the hypothesis that QPART is a valid measure of autonomic pilomotor nerve dysfunction in early PD. Six healthy subjects and six age matched PD patients participated in a controlled study. Dr. Siepmann\'s initial data in six patients with Parkinson\'s disease showed significantly reduced pilomotor (goose bump) responses in early disease, when evaluated using the QPART technique, compared to the pilomotor response in six healthy adults (p < 0.05). The use of the QPART technique is promising, as previous research confirmed that pilomotor nerves in patients with Parkinson\'s disease are damaged by alpha-synuclein deposition in early stages of the disease. This damage correlates with both motor and autonomic clinical symptoms. Consistent with the decrease in pilomotor function, sudomotor responses were decreased in patients with Parkinson\'s disease (p < 0.01). In December 2012, Prothena has concluded a partnership agreement with Roche to develop PRX002, a disease-modifying antibody directed at Parkinson\'s disease and other synucleinopathies.
