EurekAlert reports on modest progress towards a gene therapy for Parkinson's disease: "One year following treatment, patients exhibited a statistically significant improvement in motor function on the side of their body correlating to the treated part of the brain. ... [this is the] first study to use a viral vector (the non-pathogenic adeno-associated virus, or AAV) for the treatment of an adult neurological disease. In the Neurologix-funded trial, the vector was injected into a specific target site in the brain in order to transfer a gene to treat Parkinson's disease. ... The goal of this research is to determine whether we can 're-set' a specific group of cells that have become overactive, causing the characteristic impaired movements associated with Parkinson's disease."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/bm-nap092305.php