A Parkinson’s Disease Interview With Researcher Lawrence Broxmeyer MD
Recently, we interviewed Lawrence Broxmeyer MD, who feels Parkinson’s Disease is of bacterial cause [Medical Hypotheses (2002) 59(4), 373–377 Elsevier Science Ltd].
(PRWEB) July 5, 2005 -- Recently, we interviewed Lawrence Broxmeyer MD, who
feels Parkinson’s Disease is of bacterial cause [Medical Hypotheses (2002)
59(4), 373–377 Elsevier Science Ltd].
Booksandauthors.net: I notice that
you wrote Parkinson's - Another Look, the book and accompanying peer-reviewed
article which links tuberculosis-like bacteria to Parkinson’s Disease, a couple
of years ago. Is it as relevant today as it was then?
Lawrence Broxmeyer,
MD: Probably more so. In November of last year, 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?
Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD: The drug was rifampicin. Although better
known as a tuberculosis drug, rifampicin is also an effective treatment for
leprosy, a disease 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 recent study, where was that
performed.
Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD: Dr. Anthony Fink, PhD at the
University of California, Santa Cruz was the lead
researcher.
Booksandauthors.net: How exactly does the drug
work?
Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD: During Parkinson’s these researchers
noticed that a common brain protein, a type of amyloid called alpha-synclein
gathers into fiber-like particles called fibrils that clog the brain. Fink’s
team showed that rifampacin stops these fibrils from forming. Perhaps even more
importantly they found already formed fibrils unraveled. It was emphasized that
clearly more work needs to be done. But there are strong implications
here.
Booksandauthors.net: Towards treatment?
Lawrence Broxmeyer,
MD: That and also prevention and also the fact that it is pointing in a specific
way towards a bacterial cause.
Booksandauthors.net: Which just happens to
be along the lines of the tuberculosis-like germ you originally wrote about
causing Parkinson's Disease and which subsequently appeared on Medline in a
peer-reviewed article taken from your book
Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD: Yes.
But the implications of these very same normal amyloid proteins which aggregate
into disease causing fibers goes way, way beyond just Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's and in the same November issue of Chemistry & Biology in which
Fink’s study appeared there was an editorial. In it Dr. Aphrodite Kapumiotu of
the Institure of Biochemistry, RWTH Aachen, Germany notes recent evidence points
to similar processes going on in mad cow disease and even in amyloid pancreatic
changes in type-2 diabetes.
Broxmeyer’s Parkinson’s book and article were
previously reviewed by Dr. Anil Aggrawal who later wrote to him: “I feel you are
one of the most original thinkers our era has seen.”
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 what ever
happened to prions?
Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD: Nothing really, except in my
opinion the concept needed an upgrade.
Although unmentioned, also
supportive of Lawrence Broxmeyer MD’s thoughts was a study earlier this year 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 [Thinking the
unthinkable: Alzheimer’s, Creutzfeldt–Jakob and Mad Cow disease: the age-related
reemergence of virulent, foodborne, bovine tuberculosis Medical Hypotheses
(2005) 64, 699–705. Elsevier Ltd].
Booksandauthors.net: Getting back to
Parkinson's, what about stem cell research?
Lawrence Broxmeyer, M.D.: It
is too early to make a definitive statement in that direction.
Booksandauthors.net: Nevertheless, what are your
feelings?
Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD: Just keep in mind that stem cells are
being used to replace areas already devastated by disease. We live in an age
where science and medicine are encouraged to apply new technology towards older
afflictions and thus the rush to surgical and stem-cell correction of
Parkinson’s. However, here as elsewhere, the roots of the present often lie deep
and securely buried in the past. In Parkinson's - Another Look, the book and the
article, I simply encourage scientist and laymen alike to take a moment out to
uncover that past.
Booksandauthors.net: And we applaud your efforts for
having done so, Dr. Broxmeyer. Thank you for joining with us
again.
Downloading these and other cutting edge Medline articles by
Lawrence Broxmeyer MD, as well as his on-going research, can be found by going
to http://medamericaresearch.org.
Distribution: Med
America Research, Lawrence Broxmeyer, Lawrence Broxmeyer MD, Dr. Lawrence
Broxmeyer
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/7/prweb257997.htm