Patent ID: 8853166

Claim:
A method of treatment of an individual having Parkinson's disease, said method comprising: administering by directly injecting a therapeutically effective amount of an expression vector to the central nervous system of the individual having Parkinson's disease, wherein said vector comprises a promoter sequence capable of directing the expression of an operably linked polynucleotide in a mammalian cell, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having SEQ ID NO:2 or a functional fragment thereof, wherein said polypeptide is a mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) polypeptide, and wherein said functional fragment is a MANF polypeptide having SEQ ID NO:4 and is capable of preventing the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced degeneration of dopaminergic neurons.