Lentiviral delivery of dominant-negative TNF treats model of PD

Neuroinflammatory processes have been implicated in the loss of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease (PD). A dominant-negative version of tumor necrosis factor (DN-TNF) protein has previously been shown to inhibit neuron loss in a murine model. McCoy et al. demonstrated that a single injection of a lentivirus expressing DN-TNF into rat substantia nigra attenuated both neuron loss and behavioral deficits in a PD model. The full report appears in the September issue of Molecular Therapy.