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By Nancy Lapid, Health Science Editor

Hello Health Rounds readers! Today we highlight some early rodent studies with potentially important implications for humans. The first tests a genetic engineering method that improved the transformation of stem cells into nerve cells that could help Parkinson’s disease patients. The second appears to have discovered a mechanism underlying the link between chronic high blood pressure and dementia, yielding clues to potential future treatments. We also cover a Canadian study that found eating disorders to be on the rise among boys, not the typical patient population for these conditions.  

In breaking news, see these stories from our Reuters journalists: Alcohol taxes aren’t high enough, says World Health Organization; As weight loss drug cases mount, consumer lawyers push to consolidate lawsuits; India’s Apollo Hospitals’ operator rejects allegations of illegal kidney transplants; U.S. awards $110 million to reduce wildlife car collisions; and EU watchdog seeks more data from GLP-1 drugmakers on suicidal thoughts.

News from the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), happening now in Dubai, is available here. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Scientists say they have come a step closer to easing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease using genetically engineered stem cells that may eventually help patients no longer need medication.

Stem cells that transform into a specific type of nerve cell offer promise for restoring movement in patients with Parkinson’s disease. So far, there hasn’t been a precise method for making this transformation happen, study leader Mark Denham of Aarhus University in Denmark said in a statement.

Using usual lab methods, only about 25% of human embryonic stem cells transform into the desired mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons, a proportion that is too low to be useful, the researchers note.

With their new lab protocol, stem cells are genetically engineered to prevent them from generating the incorrect types of nerve cells. As a result, 69% of the cells transform into “bona fide” dopaminergic cells, according to the report published on Tuesday in Nature Communications.

The genetically engineered stem cells led to the restoration of movement in rats with a form of Parkinson’s disease, the researchers said.

“Using our genetically engineered cells we generate a higher purity of dopamine cells. For patients this will reduce the recovery time and diminish the risk of relapse and (need for) medication,” Marks said.

“My goal is to help patients stay off their medication,” Marks said, adding that the next step is clinical trials.

A separate team of researchers reported on Monday in JAMA Neurology on a new blood test for identifying nervous system changes that can signal Parkinson’s disease years before the main symptoms occur.

The test, which measures levels of a protein called alpha-synuclein, “could allow clinicians to screen for those individuals at high risk of developing the disease and facilitate the timely introduction of precision therapies that are currently at clinical trial stage,” the researchers said in a statement.

Read more about Parkinson’s disease research on Reuters.com

• Blood test for Parkinson’s disease promising in early study
• Bayer says Parkinson’s stem cell therapy improves symptoms in initial trial

Immune cells play a previously unrecognized role in the link between chronic high blood pressure and dementia, a study in mice found.

“An increase in blood pressure is not what hits the brain to cause dementia,” study leader Dr. Costantino Iadecola of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York said in a statement. “Our data suggest that one of the major causes is immune response.”

Bringing blood pressure under control may therefore not be enough to lower the risk of cognitive decline, his team said in a report published on Monday in Nature Neuroscience.

In mice with high blood pressure from a high salt diet, levels of the inflammatory immune system protein IL-17 were elevated not just in the blood – as would be expected with chronic hypertension – but also in the protective membrane around the brain called the meninges, the researchers found.

They discovered that immune cells in the outermost layer of the meninges, called the dura, were producing IL-17 that was able to pass through other layers of the meninges to infiltrate the brain, ultimately interacting with other immune cells to cause tissue injury and suppress blood flow.

When the team eliminated the IL-17-producing cells in the meninges or the immune cells in the brain that interacted with the IL-17, they restored full cognitive function.

It’s possible, they speculated, that IL-17 inhibitor drugs commonly used to treat autoimmune diseases might someday be used in combination with typical anti-hypertension drugs to treat cognitive impairment.

More research is needed to look at what other cell types in the dura are contributing to the relationship between hypertension and dementia, coauthor Dr. Monica Santisteban of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee said in a statement.

Serious eating disorders are on the rise in children overall but particularly among boys and younger adolescents, a study from Canada suggests.

These disorders are generally most common in teen girls and women, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between 2002 and 2019, the Canadian research team saw an overall 139% increase in eating disorder hospitalizations among children and adolescents, with a total of 11,654.

Hospitalizations for eating disorders more than quadrupled among boys and nearly doubled among children ages 12 to 14, according to a report published on Monday in JAMA Network Open.

Among children with eating disorders other than anorexia and bulimia nervosa, hospitalizations more than doubled.

The number of co-occurring mental illness diagnoses per hospitalization also rose, the researchers reported.

Along with an overall increase in the prevalence of eating disorders, the findings might be explained by improved screening and detection and a reduction in stigma, the authors noted.

“Healthcare providers need to be aware of the increasing diversity of children and adolescents requiring intensive, inpatient, eating disorder care to help identify these patients earlier in their illnesses,” study leader Dr. Sarah Smith of The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto said in a statement.

This newsletter was edited by Bill Berkrot.

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