Yale School of Medicine has been awarded a $13.2 million grant from The Marcus Foundation to support a clinical trial that could mark a first step toward a preventive treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Marcus Foundation, chaired by Bernie Marcus, co-founder and former chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, provides targeted and impactful philanthropy in the areas of medical research, free enterprise and veterans support, Jewish causes, and the community. Through these focus areas, Mr. Marcus’ philanthropy has made a significant impact by saving and changing countless lives.
“We are grateful to The Marcus Foundation for its generosity and commitment to supporting our innovative translational research in neuroscience, especially on the pathogenesis and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease,” said Nancy J. Brown, MD, the Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Yale School of Medicine. “The clinical impact of the study could potentially help patients by preventing emergence of the debilitating motor and cognitive symptoms of Parkinson’s.”
Led by David Hafler, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology and William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology and of Immunobiology, along with Jesse Cedarbaum, MD, instructor in neurology, the clinical trial will test the hypothesis that inflammatory signaling plays a key role in the development of PD by blocking these signals using adalimumab (Humira®), an FDA-approved anti-inflammatory medication used to treat autoimmune disorders.
“We are thrilled that, thanks to The Marcus Foundation, we can test a readily available treatment that holds the potential to change the standard of care for Parkinson’s disease,” said Hafler. “If successful, this trial stands to benefit immediately the lives of patients and families facing devastating diagnoses.”
Years before they exhibit the classical symptoms of PD—tremor, slowness of movement, impairment of gait and balance, and cognitive decline—nearly 50% of PD patients manifest a syndrome called REM Sleep Behavioral Disorder (RBD). RBD results when mechanisms in the brain that normally “paralyze” the motor system, save the eye muscles, fail, causing patients to act out their dreams while sleeping. Over time, patients with RBD accumulate “non-motor” symptoms that are also characteristic of PD, as well as changes on brain imaging and on certain biochemical tests that are consistent with PD. Thus, RBD can be considered a prodromal syndrome that presages the development of clinically evident PD.
We are grateful to The Marcus Foundation for its generosity and commitment to supporting our innovative translational research in neuroscience, especially on the pathogenesis and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.
Dean Nancy J. Brown, MD
Research conducted by Hafler and his team has identified the presence of inflammation in the spinal fluid of individuals with RBD. They have also discovered that blocking TNF-a (tumor necrosis factor-alpha) might prevent RBD progressing to PD. This landmark gift from The Marcus Foundation will fund their clinical trial in people with RBD using Humira to assess whether anti-TNF treatment can prevent PD-associated symptoms in RBD. The clinical trial represents the first large-scale effort to tackle this important question.