Page 28 - EUREKA! Summer 2018
P. 28

After epilepsy and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s is responsible for the
                                                                                                                                       third-highest healthcare costs in the country, and the debilitating

                                                                                                                                       and degenerative disease will only become more prevalent and
                                                                                                                                       more expensive as baby boomers age.




         The green image from Matthew Holahan’s experiment shows alpha-synuclein in a mouse brain. The red image shows A-syn-1, the
         aptamer he and Maria DeRosa designed to target the protein. The yellow image shows the successful co-localization of A-syn-1 and
         alpha-synuclein, which has the potential to help stop Parkinson’s disease. On the opposite page, from left to right: dopaminergic
         neurons in the substania nigra — part of the midbrain where Parkinson’s pathology occurs and affects motor function — are the main   are optimistic, however, and after   to invest in this work as the cross-  while, and that takes money and time.”
         source of dopamine in the brain; the motor cortex, where Holahan and DeRosa’s research is focused; and what neurodegeneration
         looks under a microscope.                                                                                               discovering eight interesting aptamers,   departmental duo continue       By October, DeRosa and Holahan
                                                                                                                                 including A-syn-1, they decided to file   their research.                plan to add new data to beef up
                                                                                                                                 a provisional patent for their recipe in   Holahan — whose shiny new lab on   their application for a full patent, and
        earlier age.                         lead to decreases in dopamine and   to overcome the challenge of                    October 2017. “You synthesize millions   the fifth floor of the Health Sciences   because it has global market potential,
          Canadian-born actor Michael J. Fox   other changes throughout the body.    delivering therapies across the blood-      of aptamers,” says DeRosa, “and then   Building has a coat of arms featuring a   CITO could also file to the Patent
        was only 29 when he was diagnosed    “Proteins bind together and form    brain barrier (BBB). This highly                you have to group them into families,   rat riding a mythological hippocampus   Cooperation Treaty, which would
        with PD in 1991. He quickly became   these stringy, fibrous fibrils. That is not   selective semipermeable membrane,     and then you figure out patterns. There   and the motto labor omnia vincit:   speed up patents in national offices
        a strong proponent of Parkinson’s    good,” says Holahan. “That means they   which protects the central nervous          were eight that kept coming up. The   work conquers all — wants to perform   throughout the world. “We aren’t just
        research, and in 1999, alongside     are starting to clump together. And   system from toxins and pathogens in           patterns kind of matched up.”       a more comprehensive study to find   focused on Canadians with PD,” says
        medical experts, Fox and other       somewhere along the line they start   the bloodstream, only admitting water                                             out where the aptamer ends up in     DeRosa. “The health of people around
        celebrities with PD lobbied the U.S.   to spread. Little chunks break off and   and essential nutrients, also makes      DeRosa and Holahan’s attempt to turn   the brain and how long it stays there.   the globe is at stake. But creating a
        Senate for more research funding.    invade other neurons, which is how   it difficult to get drugs to the brain.        their research into a product is the first   There are dozens of “what ifs” and   new technology here will lead to talent
        Gerald Fischbach, at the time the    a lot of neurodegenerative diseases   But in recent decades, advances in            project undertaken by the recently   other foundational questions that need   development, innovation and training
        medical director of the National     spread throughout the brain, kind of   nanotechnology have developed a              launched Carleton Innovation Transfer   to be answered before human trials   for the next generation of Canadian
        Institute of Neurological Disorders   like how a virus would infect a person   delivery system using lipids — fatty      Office (CITO). Carleton is an inventor-  can begin. Whether their lipid-based   researchers.”
        and Stroke, part of the National     or population. That’s the problem we   acids that aren’t water soluble — that       owned intellectual property institution,   delivery system is the best vehicle   Creating a new drug therapy is a
        Institutes of Health, declared that a   want to stop.”                   can pass through the BBB. “Getting
        cure was imminent, possibly within a   In 2015, DeRosa and Holahan       the aptamer across to the brain is
        decade. With this in mind, Fox created   received an $80,000 U.S. seed grant   tough,” says DeRosa. “That’s a huge
        The Michael J. Fox Foundation for    from The Michael J. Fox Foundation   field of research in itself.”
        Parkinson’s Research in 2000 and ran   to explore the possibility of using an   While experts still need to learn
        it like an entrepreneur, taking large   aptamer-based therapy to tackle the   exactly how the knotted accumulation
        risks for potentially great, and quick,   alpha-synuclein puzzle. The startling   of alpha-synuclein is linked to
        results.                             results in Holahan’s lab occurred in   dopamine loss, they know that a key
          “It was my hope to build an        March 2017, and a month later, when   aspect of many neurodegenerative
        organization fundamentally different   DeRosa excitedly presented their   diseases, from Alzheimer’s to
        from any that presently existed,”    findings on A-syn-1 to the foundation   Huntington’s chorea, is a protein gone
        Fox wrote in his second memoir,      in New York City, they were given a six-  rogue. Each culprit protein plays an
        Always Looking Up. “‘We’re not       month $50,000 U.S. extension. “The   undetermined role in the nervous
        setting up a bank,’ I told them. ‘When   number of people with Parkinson’s   system, and when it overproduces
        money comes in, it will go back out   is expected to double by 2040 to   itself into clumps, nerve deterioration
        immediately.’” Without an endowment,   nearly 14 million worldwide,” says   isn’t far behind. “Even for something
        the foundation annually invests every   Liliana Menalled, a senior associate   like Huntington’s, where you know that    which means that researchers are    for the therapy and how effectively   huge undertaking. It entails working
        dollar it fundraises, and since its birth   director of research programs at the   there’s a very definitive genetic cause,   usually left to their own devices.   A-syn-1 performs in a larger study are   with or launching a company, and
        has contributed more than $800       foundation. “These individuals need   it’s still questionable about how that        But CITO serves as a resource for   equally important queries.           abiding by stringent regulations during
        million U.S. to support the research   therapies to prevent or stop disease   gene leads to a protein malfunction        faculty who want to take their ideas   “The mice that we have will develop   years of testing. But considering that
        and development of new therapies.    progression. Preventing alpha-      that then leads to a disease,” says             to the market. In the past year, CITO   the motor symptoms as they age, but   the first trials of A-syn-1 had very
          Although the exact cause of PD is   synuclein aggregation is a promising   Holahan. “There are many different          developed a commercialization plan   right now we already know that alpha-  promising results, DeRosa is hopeful.
        unknown, its onset is associated with   route toward such a treatment.”  reasons why that can happen. If it was          around DeRosa and Holahan’s results,   synuclein is there, and we’d like to see   “We gave nine injections over three
        a combination of environmental and    DeRosa and Holahan’s approach to   clear, then we could find a cure.”              found an appropriate patent agent and   how it reacts to the aptamer in the   months and the mice ended up with
        genetic factors. In nearly every case   the protein clumping is innovative, says   In the event that A-syn-1 doesn’t     funded the provisional patent process,   brain,” says Holahan. “Then we’ll move   half the aggregated protein in the
        of PD, alpha-synuclein aggregates    Menalled — both the aptamer itself   lead to a therapy, it could still benefit      which basically puts their flag on this   to the next step: can you actually slow   brain,” she says. “The disease had
        into clumps of spaghetti-like filaments   and how they have packaged it with   Parkinson’s experts as a diagnostic or    turf for a year. The office is currently   down the disease’s progress? For that,   already progressed, but with barely an
        that, researchers believe, somehow   fluorescent purple lipid nanoparticles   research tool. DeRosa and Holahan          looking for a company that’s willing   you’d have to let the animals age for a   intervention we saw something change.”



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