Improving the safety and function of pluripotent stem cell-derived neural transplants for the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Clinical trials using fetal tissue have provided the necessary proof-of-principle evidence that transplanted dopamine neurons can appropriately integrate into the brain and alleviate motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease patients for > 20 years. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), are now being pursued as an alternative cell source, circumventing ethical and availability issues, given their competent self-renewal and differentiation capabilities. Despite rapid progress in the field over the past decade, and recent advancement of these cells into clinical trials (Japan October 2018), we recognise a number of short-comings that require further attention. Despite the existence of efficient protoco..