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Parkinson’s disease grafts benefit from well-timed growth factor

Grafts of stem-cell-derived precursors of dopamine neurons could be used to treat Parkinson’s disease, but this approach has limitations. Injecting a growth factor three weeks after transplantation can overcome some of these limits.
  1. Lorenz Studer

    1. Lorenz Studer is in the Developmental Biology Program and the Center for Stem Cell Biology, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA.

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  2. Viviane Tabar

    1. Viviane Tabar is in the Department of Neurosurgery, the Cancer Biology & Genetics Program and the Center for Stem Cell Biology, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

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The idea of repairing the brain by replacing the neurons that die in Parkinson’s disease has been a long-standing dream for researchers in the field. Over the past few decades, many cell types have been put forward as candidates to replace dying neurons1, including cells derived from the midbrain of human fetuses. But the focus has now turned to pluripotent stem cells, which can give rise to almost any cell type. Transplantation of specific neuron progenitors derived from these stem cells is on the verge of being tested in the clinic2, but limitations remain, including low rates of survival and suboptimal function of the transplanted neurons3. Writing in Cell Stem Cell, Gantner et al.4 address some of these limitations.

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Nature 582, 39-40 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01486-3

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Competing Interests

L.S. is a scientific founder and paid consultant of BlueRock Therapeutics and an inventor on patents related to the differentiation of dopamine neurons from pluripotent stem cells. V.T. is a founding investigator and paid consultant of BlueRock Therapeutics.

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