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Award-winning research into light therapy's effects on the clinical signs of Parkinson's disease (PD) has led to the development of a product that may change patient treatment worldwide.
Sydney Adventist Hospital researcher Dr Ann Liebert has been recognised at the Rosalind Franklin Society Awards in Science for her paper, the first to show how remote photobiomodulation (PBM) can help reduce the symptoms of the neurodegenerative disorder.
The paper emerged from a 12-week trial at the hospital's Photobiomodulation Therapy Clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic, where seven participants were treated with PBM to the abdomen and neck three times per week.
They were assessed for mobility, balance, cognition, fine motor skill and sense of smell on enrolment, after the clinic treatments, and following 33 weeks of home therapy.
"Our study shows PBM was shown to be a safe and potentially effective treatment for a range of clinical signs and symptoms of PD," said Dr Liebert, who is Co-Ordinator of Photomolecular Research at New South Wales' largest private hospital – also known as the San.
"Improvements were maintained for as long as treatment continued, for up to one year in a neurodegenerative disease where decline is typically expected. No other treatment has achieved this."
Dr Liebert said previous studies had noted "radically altered" gut biome in PD patients, which indicated inflammatory disease.
"Applying light to the stomach stimulates the body to produce anti-inflammatory chemicals," she said.
"Once inflammation is reduced, the body goes into homeostasis and can produce positive clinical effects."
The Rosalind Franklin Society, named after the pioneering British chemist and X-ray crystallographer, recognises peer-reviewed scientific papers by women or under-represented minorities published in academic journals owned by US company Mary Ann Liebert Inc – its awards partner – with a $1,000 prize for each winner.
Dr Liebert's paper – 'Remote Photobiomodulation Treatment for the Clinical Signs of Parkinson's Disease: A Case Series Conducted During COVID-19' – was published in the journalPhotobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgeryin 2021.
She paid tribute to the prior work of researchers – many of them women – who have been studying the mechanisms of light therapy since 1994.
"I am grateful also to Sydney Adventist Hospital, especially my mentor, co-researcher and Head of Research, Professor Geoffrey Herkes, for the support of my work and enabling this clinical innovation to change the treatment of many people around the world," she added.
Dr Liebert has cofounded an Australian company with the goal of using PBM to treat the symptoms of PD – for which there is no cure – and other intractable neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
"From our current research, we have developed a home-device that is TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and CE marked, in Europe, for the treatment of symptoms of Parkinson's disease," she said.
The San has used light therapy since 1903 to treat wounds, arthritis and lymphedema, and is now adopting it in areas such as neurological and chronic pain.
Dr Liebert's paper has informed the hospital's new triple-blind randomised controlled trial involving 40 remote participants, while the San Foundation is also supporting her team's collaboration with Professor Carol Pollock to investigate PBM treatment of diabetic renal disease in a pre-clinical study.
Dr Liebert and her team – including cardiologist Professor Hosen Kiat – were the first to articulate the complex mechanistic actions by which low-level photon energy might confer myocardial protection, and they have also successfully used light therapy to treat oral mucositis in cancer patients.
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