948. Improvement of Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease by In Vivo Gene Transfer of Human Hepatocyte Growth Factor - A Model of Gene Therapy for Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The ultimate treatment of PD is to repair dopaminergic neurons from degenerative process. As neurotrophic factors have been shown to support the survival and enhance the function of dopaminergic neurons, gene therapy using neurotrophic factors such as glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor becames center of interests. In the present study, we focused on hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as a novel neurotrophic and angiogenic growth factor that is a well-known potent pleiotrophic cytokine exhibiting mitogenic, motogenic, and morphogenic activities in a variety of cells.