Is Parkinson's Caused By a Bacteria? The Evidence Keeps Growing Says Researcher Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer

Online, November 24, 2010 (Newswire.com) - When Professor P.S. Igbigbi, Head of the Department of Anatomy of the Malawi College of Medicine and author of 11 chapters in various neuroanatomy texts, read Lawrence Broxmeyer's parkinson's book, he thought it "well referenced" and "a revealing perspective about Parkinson's disease which readers will find very useful, especially since it presents a very compelling explanation as to the possible cause of this devastating disease."

Forensic medicine and Pathology specialist Dr. Vugar K. Huseynov summed up his review of Broxmeyer's book by writing: ".............To Dr.Lawrence Broxmeyer, I would simply like to relate that your important, scientific, and historical book made me reassess all that I have been taught and what, as a Doctor of Forensic Pathology, I have seen, and from this point on, your book will be my standard for assessing probes regarding neurodegenerative diseases of the brain."

The Interview:

Booksandauthors.net: I notice that you wrote Parkinson's - Another Look, the book and an accompanying peer-reviewed Elsevier article which links tuberculosis-like bacteria to Parkinson's Disease, several years ago. Is it as relevant today as it was then?

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: Probably more so. Since then, Web MD reported that researchers found a common tuberculosis drug which could help Parkinson's disease and perhaps Alzheimer's as well.

Booksandauthors.net: What drug was that?

Dr.Lawrence Broxmeyer: That drug was rifampicin. Although better known as a tuberculosis drug, rifampicin is also an effective treatment for leprosy, a disease closely related to TB. More than a decade ago, researchers discovered that leprosy patients on long-term rifampin therapy had less dementia and senile plaques in their brains than untreated patients. That study led to intense research on how the drug might affect brain diseases in general.

Booksandauthors.net: And the more recent study mentioned, using the TB drug rifampicin, where was that performed?

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: Dr. Anthony Fink, PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz was the lead researcher.

Booksandauthors.net: How exactly does the drug work?

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: During Parkinson's these researchers noticed that a common brain protein, a type of amyloid called alpha-synuclein gathers into fiber-like particles called fibrils that clog the brain. Fink's team showed that rifampacin stopped these fibrils from forming. Perhaps even more importantly they found already formed fibrils unraveled. It was emphasized that clearly more work needed to be done. But there are strong implications here.

Booksandauthors.net: Towards treatment?

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: That and also prevention and also the fact that it is pointing in a specific way towards a specific bacteria. Finks 2004 study wasn't alone. In 2006, Jiang cured Parkinson's-like illness with another TB antibiotic, sodium para-aminosalicylic acid or PAS. And by July, 2009, existing drugs prescribed for Parkinson's such as entacapone (Comtam) and tolcapone where shown, in reality, to have good activity against Multi-Drug-Resistant (MDR) Tuberculosis.

Booksandauthors.net: Which just happens to be along the lines of the tuberculosis-like germ you originally wrote about causing Parkinson's Disease.

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: Yes. But the implications of Fink's study goes way, way beyond just Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and in the same November issue of Chemistry & Biology in which his study appeared, there was an editorial by Kapumiotu of the Institure of Biochemistry, Aachen, Germany, noting that recent evidence points to similar processes going on in mad cow disease and even in amyloid pancreatic changes in type-2 diabetes.

Booksandauthors.net: In browsing thru your work on Medline and elsewhere I have come across similar thoughts, though in the case of Mad Cow you have linked this and Creutzfeldt-Jakob to bovine tuberculosis. Fascinating article, but whatever happened to prions?

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: Nothing really, except in my opinion that concept needed an upgrade.

Although unmentioned, supportive of Broxmeyer's thoughts was a study by a Korean University, published in the Journal of Neurology. Here drinking a glass or two of milk was said to have raised the risk of Parkinson's disease in middle aged men. This tied into Broxmeyer's work on Bovine tuberculosis as causative to Mad Cow, Creutzfeldt-Jakob as well as Parkinson's.

Booksandauthors.net: Getting back to Parkinson's, what about stem cell research?

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: It is too early to make a definitive statement in that direction.

Booksandauthors.net: Nevertheless, what are your feelings?

Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer: Just keep in mind that stem cells are being used to replace areas already devastated by ongoing disease.

Booksandauthors.net: Interesting thought. And we applaud your efforts with Parkinson's, Dr. Broxmeyer. Thank you for joining with us again.

Downloading these and other Medline articles by Lawrence Broxmeyer MD, as well as his on-going research, can be found by going to http://drbroxmeyer.netfirms.com