scholarly journals Replacing what’s lost: a new era of stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Fan ◽  
Winanto ◽  
Shi-Yan Ng
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Therapy ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cell Replacement Therapy ◽  
Safety And Efficacy ◽  
Cell Replacement

Abstract Background Stem cells hold tremendous promise for regenerative medicine because they can be expanded infinitely, giving rise to large numbers of differentiated cells required for transplantation. Stem cells can be derived from fetal sources, embryonic origins (embryonic stem cells or ESCs) or reprogrammed from adult cell types (induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs). One unique property of stem cells is their ability to be directed towards specific cell types of clinical interest, and can mature into functional cell types in vivo. While transplantations of fetal or ESC-derived tissues are known to illicit a host immunogenic response, autologous transplantations using cell types derived from one’s own iPSCs eliminate risks of tissue rejection and reduce the need for immunosuppressants. However, even with these benefits, cell therapy comes with significant hurdles that researchers are starting to overcome. In this review, we will discuss the various steps to ensure safety, efficacy and clinical practicality of cell replacement therapy in neurodegenerative diseases, in particular, Parkinson’s disease. Main body Parkinson’s disease (PD) results from a loss of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra and is an ideal target for cell replacement therapy. Early trials using fetal midbrain material in the late 1980s have resulted in long term benefit for some patients, but there were multiple shortcomings including the non-standardization and quality control of the transplanted fetal material, and graft-induced dyskinesia that some patients experience as a result. On the other hand, pluripotent stem cells such as ESCs and iPSCs serve as an attractive source of cells because they can be indefinitely cultured and is an unlimited source of cells. Stem cell technologies and our understanding of the developmental potential of ESCs and iPSCs have deepened in recent years and a clinical trial for iPSC-derived dopaminergic cells is currently undergoing for PD patients in Japan. In this focused review, we will first provide a historical aspect of cell therapies in PD, and then discuss the various challenges pertaining to the safety and efficacy of stem cell-based cell transplantations, and how these hurdles were eventually overcome. Conclusion With the maturity of the iPSC technology, cell transplantation appears to be a safe and effective therapy. Grafts in non-human primates survive and remain functional for more than 2 years after transplantation, with no signs of tumorigenesis, indicating safety and efficacy of the treatment. However, immunosuppressants are still required because of the lack of “universal stem cells” that would not evoke an immune response. The results of ongoing and upcoming trials by a global consortium known as GForce-PD would be highly anticipated because the success of these trials would open up possibilities for using cell therapy for the treatment of PD and other degenerative diseases.

scholarly journals Modeling the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease in patient-specific neurons

2020 ◽  
pp. 153537022096178
Author(s):  
Jian Feng
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Mechanistic Studies ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Further Development

The 30 trillion cells that self-assemble into a human being originate from the pluripotent stem cells in the inner cell mass of a human blastocyst. The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) makes it possible to approximate various aspects of this natural developmental process artificially by generating materials that can be used in invasive mechanistic studies of virtually all human conditions. In Parkinson’s disease, instructions computed by the basal ganglia to control voluntary motor functions break down, leading to widespread rhythmic bursting activities in the basal ganglia and beyond. It is thought that these oscillatory neuronal activities, which disrupt aperiodic neurotransmission in a normal brain, may reduce information content in the instructions for motor control. Using midbrain neuronal cultures differentiated from iPSCs of Parkinson’s disease patients with parkin mutations, we find that parkin mutations cause oscillatory neuronal activities when dopamine D1-class receptors are activated. This system makes it possible to study the molecular basis of rhythmic bursting activities in Parkinson’s disease. Further development of stem cell models of Parkinson’s disease will enable better approximation of the situation in the brain of Parkinson’s disease patients. In this review, I will discuss what has been found in the past about the pathophysiology of motor dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease, especially oscillatory neuronal activities and how stem cell technologies may transform our abilities to understand the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease. Impact statement Research on the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD) has generated effective therapies such as deep brain stimulation. A better understanding of PD pathophysiology calls for patient-specific materials amenable for invasive mechanistic studies. In this minireview, I discuss our recent work on oscillatory neuronal activities in midbrain neurons differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) of PD patients with parkin mutations. These patient-specific neurons enable a variety of studies previously not feasible in the human system. Further development in stem cell technologies may generate more realistic models for us to decipher PD pathophysiology. These new developments will transform research and development in Parkinson’s disease.

scholarly journals Tumorigenicity of pluripotent stem cells: biological insights from molecular imaging

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (suppl_6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel G. Kooreman ◽  
Joseph C. Wu
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Molecular Imaging ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cell Replacement Therapy ◽  
Cell Replacement ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Teratoma Formation

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have the ability (i) to duplicate indefinitely while maintaining pluripotency and (ii) to differentiate into cell types of all three embryonic germ layers. These two properties of ESCs and iPSCs make them potentially suitable for tissue engineering and cell replacement therapy for many different diseases, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes and heart disease. However, one critical obstacle in the clinical application of ESCs or iPSCs is the risk of teratoma formation. The emerging field of molecular imaging is allowing researchers to track transplanted ESCs or iPSCs in vivo , enabling early detection of teratomas.

scholarly journals The immunogenicity of midbrain dopaminergic neurons and the implications for neural grafting trials in Parkinson’s disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamma Qarin ◽  
Sarah K Howlett ◽  
Joanne L Jones ◽  
Roger Barker
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Dopaminergic Neurons ◽  
Experimental Treatment ◽  
Safety And Efficacy ◽  
Cell Replacement ◽  
Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons ◽  
Cell Source ◽  
Different Types

Dopaminergic (DA) cell replacement therapies are a promising experimental treatment for Parkinson’s disease and a number of different types of DA cell-based therapies have already been trialled in patients. To date the most successful have been allotransplants of foetal ventral midbrain but even then, the results have been inconsistent. This coupled to the ethical and logistical problems with using this tissue has meant that an alternative cell source has been sought of which human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) sources have proven very attractive. Robust protocols for making mesencephalic DA progenitor cells from hPSC now exist and the first in-human clinical trials have or are about to start. However, while their safety and efficacy are well understood, relatively little is known about their immunogenicity and in this review, we briefly summarise this with reference mainly to the limited literature on human foetal dopaminergic cells.

scholarly journals A new area of stem cell therapy for Parkinson disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 4615
Author(s):  
Khaled M. Hassan ◽  
Zahra H. Alqarni ◽  
Ali A. Almontashri ◽  
Ahmed M. Allubly ◽  
Khalid A. Alalmaee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Motor Complications ◽  
Disease Symptoms ◽  
Cell Sources ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

No treatment currently can be used in order to slow or even stop the progression of Parkinson's disease. Nowadays, researchers are already using stem cells to grow dopamine-producing nerve cells in the lab so that they can study the disease, especially in those cases where there is a known genetic cause for the condition. The development of the advanced cellular therapies and using induced pluripotent stem cells is making it possible to combat the progression of the disease without the resulting motor complications. It has been shown that the transplantation of many cell sources leads to reduce Parkinson’s disease symptoms in animal models.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document