The TRANSEURO study is part-funded by Cure Parkinson’s and is investigating dopamine cell replacement therapy as a restorative treatment for people with Parkinson’s.
It is being coordinated by Professor Roger Barker at the University of Cambridge, and it involves a European-wide network of Parkinson’s researchers. Professor Barker and the TRANSEURO consortium published a perspective article in the journal Nature Medicine in July 2019. which provided the rationale for the design of the TRANSEURO study and also shared some of the lessons that have been learnt during the running of this cell transplantation study.
It also provided an update regarding the progress of the study – the researchers have finished both recruitment and transplantation of 11 patients, and they will now follow those individuals – and a large control group – to assess changes in motor symptoms over time. The results of this study will be published in 2021.
This article provides a timely discussion of the considerations of conducting dopamine cell transplantation, as there are numerous clinical trials being set up around the world that will be testing stem cell derived cell transplantation approaches as a restorative therapy for Parkinson’s. Many of the lessons learnt in the TRANSEURO study supported by Cure Parkinson’s will be incorporated in these new clinical trial programmes.
