William Langston

In 1982 William Langston was head of neurology at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center when he made a major breakthrough in the research of Parkinson's Disease as a result of several incidents detailed in the book The Case of the Frozen Addicts.{{Cite book|title=The Case of the Frozen Addicts|last1=Langston|first1=J William|last2=Palfreman|first2=Jon|publisher=Pantheon Books|year=1995|isbn=0-679-42465-2|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/caseoffrozenaddi00lang}}

Langston continued research into Parkinson's Disease and became an internationally known neuroscientist. He opened the Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center in Sunnyvale, California in 1988 and became the chief executive officer and scientific director. Langston's current research interests include the study of mechanisms of neuronal degeneration, the etiology of Parkinson's disease,{{Cite journal|last=Langston|first=J. William|date=1996-12-01|title=The etiology of Parkinson's disease with emphasis on the MPTP story|journal=Neurology|language=en|volume=47|issue=6 Suppl 3|pages=153S–160S|doi=10.1212/WNL.47.6_Suppl_3.153S|pmid=8959984|s2cid=41353714|issn=0028-3878}} and the development of new strategies to slow or halt disease progression such as cell replacement therapy and gene therapy and, more recently, the possible environmental causes of Parkinson's disease such as pesticides,{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/parkinsons/interviews/langston.html|title=FRONTLINE: my father, my brother, and me: interviews: dr. william langston PBS|website=www.pbs.org|access-date=2016-03-28}}{{Cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,141542,00.html|title=Surprising Clue to Parkinson's|last=Wallis|first=Claudia|date=2001-06-24|newspaper=Time|access-date=2016-03-28}} cluster cases{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/14/health/parkinson-s-clusters-getting-a-closer-look.html|title=Parkinson's 'Clusters' Getting a Closer Look|last=Duenwald|first=Mary|date=2002-05-14|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-03-28}}{{Cite journal|last=Hawaleshka, D.|date=2002-06-24|title=Clusters of parkinson's.|journal=Maclean's|pages=115, 50|id={{ProQuest|218538896}}}} and the early identification of affected people through genome mapping.{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/08/the_medical_revolution.html|title=The Medical Revolution|last=Yoffe|first=Emily|date=2010-08-24|newspaper=Slate|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|access-date=2016-03-28}} In 2014 Carrolee Barlow became chief executive officer of the institute with Langston continuing as Chief Scientific Officer.{{Cite web|url=http://www.evaluategroup.com/Universal/View.aspx?type=Story&id=491776|title=Carrolee Barlow, MD, PhD to Lead the Parkinson\'s Institute and Clinical Center as Chief Executive Officer {{!}} Evaluate|website=www.evaluategroup.com|access-date=2016-04-10}}

During an interview in 2009 Langston stated: "I would never promise I could solve the disease. What I would do is say, I think there's a very real possibility, with the adequate funding, that we could make major progress on both finding the cause of the disease, which could lead to prevention, and also major progress on finding ways to slow and halt disease progression. I think that's a realistic possibility in my lifetime, my career. I wouldn't have said that five or 10 years ago. A cure, I will not say."

The Case of the Frozen Addicts was written by Langston and Jon Palfreman in 1995. A later edition was published in 2014.{{Cite book|title=The Case of the Frozen Addicts|last1=Langston|first1=J William|last2=Palfreman|first2=Jon|publisher=Pantheon Books|year=2014|isbn=978-1-61499-331-5|edition=2nd|location=New York}} The book details the work done by Langston, his colleagues and associates around the world to isolate the neurotoxic contaminant which caused the Parkinson's like symptoms in a number of heroin users and to develop methods of utilising this discovery. The book includes discovery of the dangers to researchers in handling the contaminant and some competition and contention between researchers.

William Langston was head of neurology at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in 1982 when a drug offender was admitted who could neither move or talk. He had been admitted from the county jail and initially treated as a malingerer but later admitted to the psychiatric unit with suspected catatonic schizophrenia. During an examination of the patient, Langston noticed his fingers moving, perhaps voluntarily, and wrapped them around a pencil. The patient began to write notes that indicated that his mind was normal but his body was not responding. He had taken heroin before the symptoms developed. Through coincidental personal connections and media presentations another five patients with the same symptoms were discovered. All had what appeared to be symptoms of advanced Parkinson's Disease. In an attempt to save their lives Dr Langston administered L-dopa, a drug then recently introduced to treat Parkinson's Disease. The patients responded and could move and talk. (Unfortunately all six patients later developed severe side effects.){{Cite book|title=Brain Storms: The race to unlock the mysteries of Parkinson's|last=Palfreman|first=Jon|publisher=Penguin Random House UK|year=2015|isbn=9781846044946|location=London|pages=3–5}}

The common link between the patients was the batch of heroin they had taken. Medical and police research established that the batch of synthetic heroin all six patients had used contained a neurotoxic contaminant, MPTP.Palfreman, p. 44. MPTP (which sometimes taints MPPP, an effective synthetic opioid), is selectively toxic to the same nerve cells in the brain which die in Parkinson's disease, the substantia nigra. The discovery of the biologic effects of this compound led to a renaissance of the basic and clinical research in Parkinson's disease.

The clinical implications of this case were ground breaking. Parkinson's Disease is only experienced by humans but animal testing is essential in drug development. Now Parkinson's Disease symptoms could be induced in monkeys by using MPTP and research could begin into drugs to treat the disease. "[W]hat had started as a drug tragedy was to open a new chapter of medical research which would offer hope to Parkinson's disease sufferers throughout the world."{{rp|page=29}}

Langston has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Achievement Award from Modern Medicine, the Sarah M. Poiley Award from the New York Academy of Sciences, the 30th Anniversary Award from the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in 1987,{{Cite web|url=http://www.pdf.org/pdf/PDF_50th_Anniversary_Program%20FINAL.pdf|title=Parkinson's Disease Foundation 50th Anniversary Educational Symposium Program|date=11 October 2007|page=8|access-date=9 March 2016}} the Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award from Roche Pharmaceuticals, the 1999 Movement Disorders Research Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.aan.com/research-and-awards/awards-history/#anchorlink13|title=Awards History {{!}} American Academy of Neurology®|website=www.aan.com|access-date=2016-03-09}} from the American Academy of Neurology, the 2008 Donald Calne Lectureship{{Cite web|url=http://www.parkinson.ca/site/c.kgLNIWODKpF/b.9196733/k.6BA1/Donald_Calne_Lectureship.htm|title=Donald Calne Lectureship Parkinson Canada|website=www.parkinson.ca|access-date=2016-03-28}} and 2012 Robert A. Pritzker Prize for Leadership in Parkinson's Research{{Cite web|url=https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/publication-detail.html?id=263&category=7|title=J. William Langston, MD, Awarded 2012 Robert A. Pritzker Prize for Leadership in Parkinson's Research by The Michael J. Fox Foundation {{!}} Parkinson's Disease Information|website=The Michael J. Fox Foundation|date=5 April 2012 |access-date=2016-03-09}} from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

• {{Cite journal | title = Chronic parkinsonism in humans due to a product of meperidine-analog synthesis | journal = Science | volume = 219 | issue = 4587 | pages = 979–80 |date=Feb 1983 | doi = 10.1126/science.6823561| pmid = 6823561 |vauthors=Langston JW, Ballard P, Tetrud JW, Irwin I | bibcode = 1983Sci...219..979L }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Aetiology of Parkinson's disease | journal = Lancet | volume = 2 | issue = 8365–66 | pages = 1457–9 |date=Dec 1983 | doi = 10.1016/s0140-6736(83)90802-4 | pmid = 6140548 |vauthors=Calne DB, Langston JW | s2cid = 1861553 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Selective nigral toxicity after systemic administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyrine (MPTP) in the squirrel monkey | journal = Brain Res | volume = 292 | issue = 2 | pages = 390–4 |date=Feb 1984 | doi = 10.1016/0006-8993(84)90777-7| pmid = 6607092 |vauthors=Langston JW, Forno LS, Rebert CS, Irwin I | s2cid = 34183578 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Pargyline prevents MPTP-induced parkinsonism in primates | journal = Science | volume = 225 | issue = 4669 | pages = 1480–2 |date=Sep 1984 | doi = 10.1126/science.6332378| pmid = 6332378 |vauthors=Langston JW, Irwin I, Langston EB, Forno LS | bibcode = 1984Sci...225.1480L }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Selective nigral toxicity after systemic administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyrine (MPTP) in the squirrel monkey | journal = Brain Res | volume = 292 | issue = 2 | pages = 390–4 |date=Feb 1984 | doi = 10.1016/0006-8993(84)90777-7| pmid = 6607092 |vauthors=Langston JW, Forno LS, Rebert CS, Irwin I | s2cid = 34183578 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = 1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP+): identification of a metabolite of MPTP, a toxin selective to the substantia nigra | journal = Neurosci Lett | volume = 48 | issue = 1 | pages = 87–92 |date=Jul 1984 | doi = 10.1016/0304-3940(84)90293-3| pmid = 6332288 |vauthors=Langston JW, Irwin I, Langston EB, Forno LS | s2cid = 13442361 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Permanent human parkinsonism due to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP): seven cases | journal = Neurology | volume = 35 | issue = 7 | pages = 949–56 |date=Jul 1985 | doi = 10.1212/wnl.35.7.949| pmid = 3874373 |vauthors=Ballard PA, Tetrud JW, Langston JW | s2cid = 42937174 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Positron emission tomography after MPTP: observations relating to the cause of Parkinson's disease | journal = Nature | volume = 317 | issue = 6034 | pages = 246–8 |date=Sep 1985 | doi = 10.1038/317246a0| pmid = 3876510 |vauthors=Calne DB, Langston JW, Martin WR, Stoessl AJ, Ruth TJ, Adam MJ, Pate BD, Schulzer M | bibcode = 1985Natur.317..246C | s2cid = 4334172 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = The Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination: a brief but quantitative approach to cognitive assessment | journal = Ann Intern Med | volume = 107 | issue = 4 | pages = 481–5 |date=Oct 1987 | doi = 10.7326/0003-4819-107-4-481| pmid = 3631786 |vauthors=Kiernan RJ, Mueller J, Langston JW, Van Dyke C }}
• {{Cite journal | title = (+/-)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine selectively damages central serotonergic neurons in nonhuman primates | journal = JAMA | volume = 260 | issue = 1 | pages = 51–5 |date=Jul 1988 | doi = 10.1001/jama.260.1.51| pmid = 2454332 |vauthors=Ricaurte GA, Forno LS, Wilson MA, DeLanney LE, Irwin I, Molliver ME, Langston JW }}
• {{Cite journal| title = The effect of deprenyl (selegiline) on the natural history of Parkinson's disease | journal = Science | volume = 245 | issue = 4917 | pages = 519–22 |date=Aug 1989 | doi = 10.1126/science.2502843| pmid = 2502843 |vauthors=Tetrud JW, Langston JW | bibcode = 1989Sci...245..519T }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Core assessment program for intracerebral transplantations (CAPIT) | journal = Mov Disord | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 2–13 | year = 1992 | doi = 10.1002/mds.870070103 | pmid = 1557062 |vauthors=Langston JW, Widner H, Goetz CG, Brooks D, Fahn S, Freeman T, Watts R | s2cid = 31485426 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Bilateral fetal mesencephalic grafting in two patients with parkinsonism induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) | journal = N Engl J Med | volume = 327 | issue = 22 | pages = 1556–63 |date=Nov 1992 | doi = 10.1056/NEJM199211263272203 | pmid = 1435882 |vauthors=Widner H, Tetrud J, Rehncrona S, Snow B, Brundin P, Gustavii B, Björklund A, Lindvall O, Langston JW | doi-access =free }}
• {{Cite book | title = The case of the frozen addicts | first1 = J. William | last2 = Palfryman | first2 = Jon | publisher = Pantheon Books | year = 1995 | isbn = 0-679-42465-2 | location = New York | last1 = Langston | url = https://archive.org/details/caseoffrozenaddi00lang }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Parkinson disease in twins: an etiologic study | journal = JAMA | volume = 281 | issue = 4 | pages = 341–6 |date=Jan 1999 | doi = 10.1001/jama.281.4.341| pmid = 9929087 |vauthors=Tanner CM, Ottman R, Goldman SM, Ellenberg J, Chan P, Mayeux R, Langston JW }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Evidence of active nerve cell degeneration in the substantia nigra of humans years after 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine exposure | journal = Ann Neurol | volume = 46 | issue = 4 | pages = 598–605 |date=Oct 1999 | doi = 10.1002/1531-8249(199910)46:4<598::AID-ANA7>3.0.CO;2-F | pmid = 10514096 |vauthors=Langston JW, Forno LS, Tetrud J, Reeves AG, Kaplan JA, Karluk D | s2cid = 46594270 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Lewy bodies and parkinsonism in families with parkin mutations | journal = Ann Neurol | volume = 50 | issue = 3 | pages = 293–300 |date=Sep 2001 | doi = 10.1002/ana.1132 | pmid = 11558785 |vauthors=Farrer M, Chan P, Chen R, Tan L, Lincoln S, Hernandez D, Forno L, Gwinn-Hardy K, Petrucelli L, Hussey J, Singleton A, Tanner C, Hardy J, Langston JW | s2cid = 32284790 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Environmental risk factors and Parkinson's disease: selective degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons caused by the herbicide paraquat | journal = Neurobiol Dis | volume = 10 | issue = 2 | pages = 119–27 |date=Jul 2002 | doi = 10.1006/nbdi.2002.0507| pmid = 12127150 |vauthors=McCormack AL, Thiruchelvam M, Manning-Bog AB, Thiffault C, Langston JW, Cory-Slechta DA, Di Monte DA | s2cid = 8949162 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Comparison of kindreds with parkinsonism and alpha-synuclein genomic multiplications | journal = Ann Neurol | volume = 55 | issue = 2 | pages = 174–9 |date=Feb 2004 | doi = 10.1002/ana.10846 | pmid = 14755720 |vauthors=Farrer M, Kachergus J, Forno L, Lincoln S, Wang DS, Hulihan M, Maraganore D, Gwinn-Hardy K, Wszolek Z, Dickson D, Langston JW | s2cid = 71615640 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Crossroads in GDNF therapy for Parkinson's disease | journal = Mov Disord | volume = 21 | issue = 2 | pages = 136–41 |date=Feb 2006 | doi = 10.1002/mds.20861 | pmid = 16470786 |vauthors=Sherer TB, Fiske BK, Svendsen CN, Lang AE, Langston JW | s2cid = 23264917 }}
• {{Cite journal | author = Langston JW | title = The Parkinson's complex: parkinsonism is just the tip of the iceberg | journal = Ann Neurol | volume = 59 | issue = 4 | pages = 591–6 |date=Apr 2006 | doi = 10.1002/ana.20834 | pmid = 16566021 | s2cid = 9724726 }}
• {{Cite journal | title = Occupation and risk of parkinsonism: a multicenter case-control study | journal = Arch Neurol | volume = 66 | issue = 9 | pages = 1106–13 |date=Sep 2009 | doi = 10.1001/archneurol.2009.195 | pmid = 19752299 |vauthors=Tanner CM, Ross GW, Jewell SA, Hauser RA, Jankovic J, Factor SA, Bressman S, Deligtisch A, Marras C, Lyons KE, Bhudhikanok GS, Roucoux DF, Meng C, Abbott RD, Langston JW | doi-access = free }}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.thepi.org Parkinson's Institute homepage]

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