Medical researcher describes the challenge of brain illnesses

The Orlando Sentinel (MCT) - They are some of the world's most vexing diseases: Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's.

Though treatments exist, better therapies are needed for the millions with these devastating afflictions. Enter Dr. Stuart Lipton, who spoke last week in Orlando, Fla., about common links among brain diseases and the potential to exploit them for treatments.

The catch: Doctors walk a fine line between shutting down destructive chemical processes in the brain and interfering with normal functions.

"The brain is a very strange and intricate place; you can't just muck around," said Lipton of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, Calif. "The problem is most drugs work like a sledgehammer" when more subtle treatments are needed.

He is speaking as part of a lecture series about Burnham's work in cancer, infectious diseases, obesity, diabetes and other fields. The institute is constructing an $80 million complex at Lake Nona, Fla., where local officials hope it will be a magnet for biomedical companies and high-paying jobs.

Until the campus is completed next year, scientists are working from donated offices and laboratories in Orlando.

"Burnham is really at the front ... creating the kind of life-science research that could stimulate the economy," said Ed Baxa, a partner with the firm of Foley & Lardner, which co-hosted a luncheon for business and community leaders to meet Lipton.

The researcher, who discovered the first U.S. drug approved for dementia, told the small gathering that naturally occurring molecules called free radicals play a crucial role in brain-based diseases.

In some people, the molecules damage proteins that keep the brain running smoothly. The proteins become misshapen and disrupt normal brain functions.

In Alzheimer's, the brain accumulates clumps of tangled proteins or plaques that slowly eat away at the tissue. Patients lose their memories and everyday abilities. In Parkinson's, cells that make a chemical called dopamine stop working or die. Patients tremble, lose their balance and walk stiffly.

Lipton tallied the victims at more than 1 million Americans with Parkinson's; 500,000 with multiple sclerosis; and more than 5 million with Alzheimer's, at a cost of $100 billion a year. Lipton runs the Burnham Center for Neuroscience, Aging and Stem Cell Research.

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© 2008, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).