ERA-Net Neuron: PARKCDNF: Development of an experimental therapeutic strategy using the newly identified growth factor CDNF for treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Subprojects 1 and 4

ERA-Net Neuron: PARKCDNF: Development of an experimental therapeutic strategy using the newly identified growth factor CDNF for treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Subprojects 1 and 4

• Germany

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

569008

01-02-2009

36

• Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease of unknown cause. 12-20 new cases per 100.000 inhabitants per year are reported in developed countries such as Europe. Furthermore, no causal therapy for restoring nigrostriatal neuron loss or slowing down the disease progression is available. Potential and promising therapies may therefore lay in the neurotrophic support of old and environmentally challenged dopaminergic neurons. Mart Saarma and Raimo Tuominen have discovered a new conserved dopamine neurotrophic factor, CDNF, and were able to show that CDNF protects and repairs nigrostriatal neurons in rodent models of PD. CDNF is unique and distinct from other already known neurotrophic factors and is therefore an excellent candidate for a therapeutic lead in PD. The consortium represents a joint effort to promote CDNF as a novel restorative treatment for Parkinson’s disease. At the end of the PARKCDNF project funding, the consortium envisions to be ready to enter the clinic (phase I trials).