scholarly journals Emerging hiPSC Models for Drug Discovery in Neurodegenerative Diseases

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 8196
Author(s):  
Dorit Trudler ◽  
Swagata Ghatak ◽  
Stuart A. Lipton
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Neural Function ◽  
Neural Cells ◽  
Human Samples ◽  
Healthy Donors ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of people worldwide and are characterized by the chronic and progressive deterioration of neural function. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington’s disease (HD), represent a huge social and economic burden due to increasing prevalence in our aging society, severity of symptoms, and lack of effective disease-modifying therapies. This lack of effective treatments is partly due to a lack of reliable models. Modeling neurodegenerative diseases is difficult because of poor access to human samples (restricted in general to postmortem tissue) and limited knowledge of disease mechanisms in a human context. Animal models play an instrumental role in understanding these diseases but fail to comprehensively represent the full extent of disease due to critical differences between humans and other mammals. The advent of human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology presents an advantageous system that complements animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. Coupled with advances in gene-editing technologies, hiPSC-derived neural cells from patients and healthy donors now allow disease modeling using human samples that can be used for drug discovery.

scholarly journals hiPSC-Derived Cardiac Tissue for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 8893
Author(s):  
Junjun Li ◽  
Ying Hua ◽  
Shigeru Miyagawa ◽  
Jingbo Zhang ◽  
Lingjun Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Cardiac Tissue ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Disease Model ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Toxicity Screening ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Novel Drug

Relevant, predictive normal, or disease model systems are of vital importance for drug development. The difference between nonhuman models and humans could contribute to clinical trial failures despite ideal nonhuman results. As a potential substitute for animal models, human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) provide a powerful tool for drug toxicity screening, modeling cardiovascular diseases, and drug discovery. Here, we review recent hiPSC-CM disease models and discuss the features of hiPSC-CMs, including subtype and maturation and the tissue engineering technologies for drug assessment. Updates from the international multisite collaborators/administrations for development of novel drug discovery paradigms are also summarized.

Toxicity testing and drug screening using iPSC-derived hepatocytes, cardiomyocytes, and neural cells

2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (7) ◽  
pp. 687-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mária Csöbönyeiová ◽  
Štefan Polák ◽  
L’uboš Danišovič
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Clinical Stage ◽  
Toxicity Testing ◽  
Security Evaluation ◽  
Neural Cells ◽  
Toxicity Screening ◽  
Drug Candidates ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Unexpected toxicity in areas such as cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and neurotoxicity is a serious complication of clinical therapy and one of the key causes for failure of promising drug candidates in development. Animal studies have been widely used for toxicology research to provide preclinical security evaluation of various therapeutic agents under development. Species differences in drug penetration of the blood–brain barrier, drug metabolism, and related toxicity contribute to failure of drug trials from animal models to human. The existing system for drug discovery has relied on immortalized cell lines, animal models of human disease, and clinical trials in humans. Moreover, drug candidates that are passed as being safe in the preclinical stage often show toxic effects during the clinical stage. Only around 16% drugs are approved for human use. Research on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) promises to enhance drug discovery and development by providing simple, reproducible, and economically effective tools for drug toxicity screening under development and, on the other hand, for studying the disease mechanism and pathways. In this review, we provide an overview of basic information about iPSCs, and discuss efforts aimed at the use of iPSC-derived hepatocytes, cardiomyocytes, and neural cells in drug discovery and toxicity testing.

scholarly journals Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Models of Frontotemporal Dementia With Tau Pathology

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekka Kühn ◽  
Aayushi Mahajan ◽  
Peter Canoll ◽  
Gunnar Hargus
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Glial Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Cell Metabolism ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Early Onset Dementia ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Neurodegenerative dementias are the most common group of neurodegenerative diseases affecting more than 40 million people worldwide. One of these diseases is frontotemporal dementia (FTD), an early onset dementia and one of the leading causes of dementia in people under the age of 60. FTD is a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative disorders with pathological accumulation of particular proteins in neurons and glial cells including the microtubule-associated protein tau, which is deposited in its hyperphosphorylated form in about half of all patients with FTD. As for other patients with dementia, there is currently no cure for patients with FTD and thus several lines of research focus on the characterization of underlying pathogenic mechanisms with the goal to identify therapeutic targets. In this review, we provide an overview of reported disease phenotypes in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons and glial cells from patients with tau-associated FTD with the aim to highlight recent progress in this fast-moving field of iPSC disease modeling. We put a particular focus on genetic forms of the disease that are linked to mutations in the gene encoding tau and summarize mutation-associated changes in FTD patient cells related to tau splicing and tau phosphorylation, microtubule function and cell metabolism as well as calcium homeostasis and cellular stress. In addition, we discuss challenges and limitations but also opportunities using differentiated patient-derived iPSCs for disease modeling and biomedical research on neurodegenerative diseases including FTD.

Abstract 156: Hydrogel Mattress, an in vitro Platform to Enhance Maturation and Evaluate Contractile Function of Individual hiPSC-CMs

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tromondae K Feaster ◽  
Charles H Williams ◽  
Adrian G Cadar ◽  
Young W Chun ◽  
Lili Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Contractile Function ◽  
Traction Force ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Contractile Properties ◽  
Calcium Handling ◽  
Cell Shortening ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have great potential as tools for human heart disease modeling and drug discovery. However, their contractile properties have not been routinely evaluated; as current methods are not accessible for most laboratories. We sought to develop a more efficient method to evaluate hiPSC-CM mechanical properties, at the single cell level. Individual hiPSC-CMs were cultured on a hydrogel based platform, termed the “hydrogel mattress,” and their cellular contractile properties evaluated using video-based edge detection. We found that hiPSC-CMs maintained on the mattress reproducibly exhibited robust cell shortening, in dramatic contrast to hiPSC-CMs maintained in a standard manner. We further found that contraction and peak cell shortening amplitude of hiPSC-CMs on mattress was comparable to that of freshly isolated adult ventricular mouse CM. Importantly, hiPSC-CMs maintained on the mattress exhibited several characteristics of a native CM, in terms of myocyte elongation, calcium handling and pharmacological response. Finally, using this platform, we could calculate the traction force generated by individual CMs. In summary, the Hydrogel mattress platform is a simple and reliable in vitro platform that not only enables the quantification of contractile performance of isolated hiPSC-CMs, but also enhances CM maturation. This flexible platform can be extended to in vitro disease modeling, drug discovery and cardiotoxicity testing.

scholarly journals Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC)-Based Neurodegenerative Disease Models for Phenotype Recapitulation and Drug Screening

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Yu Chang ◽  
Hsiao-Chien Ting ◽  
Ching-Ann Liu ◽  
Hong-Lin Su ◽  
Tzyy-Wen Chiou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disease ◽  
Drug Screening ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Animal ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Disease Models ◽  
Therapeutic Drugs ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Neurodegenerative diseases represent a significant unmet medical need in our aging society. There are no effective treatments for most of these diseases, and we know comparatively little regarding pathogenic mechanisms. Among the challenges faced by those involved in developing therapeutic drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, the syndromes are often complex, and small animal models do not fully recapitulate the unique features of the human nervous system. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a novel technology that ideally would permit us to generate neuronal cells from individual patients, thereby eliminating the problem of species-specificity inherent when using animal models. Specific phenotypes of iPSC-derived cells may permit researchers to identify sub-types and to distinguish among unique clusters and groups. Recently, iPSCs were used for drug screening and testing for neurologic disorders including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinocerebellar atrophy (SCA), and Zika virus infection. However, there remain many challenges still ahead, including how one might effectively recapitulate sporadic disease phenotypes and the selection of ideal phenotypes and for large-scale drug screening. Fortunately, quite a few novel strategies have been developed that might be combined with an iPSC-based model to solve these challenges, including organoid technology, single-cell RNA sequencing, genome editing, and deep learning artificial intelligence. Here, we will review current applications and potential future directions for iPSC-based neurodegenerative disease models for critical drug screening.

scholarly journals Human Astrocytes Model Derived from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2680
Author(s):  
Nicolas Leventoux ◽  
Satoru Morimoto ◽  
Kent Imaizumi ◽  
Yuta Sato ◽  
Shinichi Takahashi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Glutamate Uptake ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Uptake Activity ◽  
Synaptic Maturation ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Protein Expression Profiles

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based disease modeling has a great potential for uncovering the mechanisms of pathogenesis, especially in the case of neurodegenerative diseases where disease-susceptible cells can usually not be obtained from patients. So far, the iPSC-based modeling of neurodegenerative diseases has mainly focused on neurons because the protocols for generating astrocytes from iPSCs have not been fully established. The growing evidence of astrocytes’ contribution to neurodegenerative diseases has underscored the lack of iPSC-derived astrocyte models. In the present study, we established a protocol to efficiently generate iPSC-derived astrocytes (iPasts), which were further characterized by RNA and protein expression profiles as well as functional assays. iPasts exhibited calcium dynamics and glutamate uptake activity comparable to human primary astrocytes. Moreover, when co-cultured with neurons, iPasts enhanced neuronal synaptic maturation. Our protocol can be used for modeling astrocyte-related disease phenotypes in vitro and further exploring the contribution of astrocytes to neurodegenerative diseases.

scholarly journals Recent Advances in Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery for Diabetes Mellitus Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Kawser Hossain ◽  
Ahmed Abdal Dayem ◽  
Jihae Han ◽  
Subbroto Kumar Saha ◽  
Gwang-Mo Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

scholarly journals NRF2 is required for structural and metabolic maturation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived ardiomyocytes

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyuan Zhang ◽  
Liang Ye ◽  
Hao Xu ◽  
Qin Zhou ◽  
Bin Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Oxidative Phosphorylation ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Cell Maturation ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Abstract Background Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) hold great promise for regenerative medicine and in drugs screening. Despite displaying key cardiomyocyte phenotypic characteristics, they more closely resemble fetal/neonatal cardiomyocytes and are still immature; these cells mainly rely on glucose as a substrate for metabolic energy, while mature cardiomyocytes mainly employ oxidative phosphorylation of fatty acids. Studies showed that the alteration of metabolism pattern from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation improve the maturity of hiPSC-CMs. As a transcription factor, accumulating evidences showed the important role of NRF2 in the regulation of energy metabolism, which directly regulates the expression of mitochondrial respiratory complexes. Therefore, we hypothesized that NRF2 is involved in the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. Methods The morphological and functional changes related to mitochondria and cell maturation were analyzed by knock-down and activation of NRF2. Results The results showed that the inhibition of NRF2 led to the retardation of cell maturation. The activation of NRF2 leads to a more mature hiPSC-CMs phenotype, as indicated by the increase of cardiac maturation markers, sarcomere length, calcium transient dynamics, the number and fusion events of mitochondria, and mitochondrial respiration. Bioinformatics analysis showed that in addition to metabolism-related genes, NRF2 also activates the expression of myocardial ion channels. Conclusions These findings indicated that NRF2 plays an important role in the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. The present work provides greater insights into the molecular regulation of hiPSC-CMs metabolism and theoretical basis in drug screening, disease modeling, and alternative treatment.

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