KWWL.com - News & Weather for Waterloo, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City, Iowa | Iowa State researchers report Parkinson's progress
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AMES (AP) -- Iowa State researchers say they may have made a major breakthrough in the fight against Parkinson's disease.
Researchers say the breakthrough was through years of studying brain cells under a microscope.
The lead researcher, Dr. Anumantha Kanthasamy (ah-nu-MAH'-tha kan-tha-SAH'-mee) says the slow process allowed him to discover a protein that is naturally found in the brain that somehow splits in two and starts to kill brain cells. Those cells produce dopamine, which is lacking in Parkinson's sufferers.
Kanthasamy says that while researchers may not know why the protein attacks these cells, they have found a compound or treatment that suppresses the protein.
Kanthasamy says it will still take years of research to test and develop a treatment for patients, but this a big step forward in the process.
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