First human trials of designer protein therapies stun US neuroscientists
Chinese researchers are testing DREADDs, a gene therapy that can dial down neuronal activity, in at least seven clinical trials for conditions like intractable epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and neuropathic pain. The news stunned US neuroscientists at a recent NIH BRAIN Initiative meeting, as the technology—developed 20 years ago by Bryan Roth—has never before reached the clinic. If successful, these trials could pave the way for circuit-based treatments for a wide range of neuropsychiatric diseases.
“If that trial is successful, then it opens the way basically to circuit-based therapeutics for virtually all neuropsychiatric diseases,” he says.