Neurologist to lead study of movement disorder
Irene Litvan, Ph.D.
University of Louisville neurologist Irene Litvan, Ph.D., will lead the nation's first comprehensive study of progressive supranuclear palsy, a little understood movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease.
Litvan, the Raymond Lee Lebby Professor in Parkinson's Disease Research and director of UofL's Movement Disorders Program, will lead a team of scientists from eight institutions taking part in the study.
The project will be funded with a $3.4 million National Institutes of Health grant.
More than 50,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy or PSP, a disorder with symptoms that can mimic Parkinson's disease.
People with PSP rarely respond to treatment that often helps people with Parkinson's. Litvan's team will look for causes of PSP and seek possible treatments.
"The first step in finding a cure is to learn what causes the disorder," she said. "By exploring the molecular and cellular factors involved, we hope to pinpoint that so we can develop targeted treatments."
PSP appears to be linked to the gradual deterioration of cells in a few tiny but important places in the brainstem.
One of these areas also is affected in Parkinson's disease, and damage to that part of the brain accounts for the movement problems typical in both PSP and Parkinson's.
Possible causes may include genetic factors, environmental factors or problems with the body's ability to get rid of neurotoxins.
Litvan's team will work to separate these factors in an attempt to better understand the disorder. Findings from the study could lead to new treatments for other neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, she said.
