Human striatal progenitor cells that contain inducible safeguards and overexpress BDNF rescue Huntington's disease phenotypes.

IF 4.6 2区医学 Q2 MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL

Molecular Therapy-Methods & Clinical Development Pub Date : 2025-01-22 eCollection Date: 2025-03-13 DOI:10.1016/j.omtm.2025.101415

Danielle A Simmons, Sridhar Selvaraj, Tingshuo Chen, Gloria Cao, Talita Souto Camelo, Tyne L M McHugh, Selena Gonzalez, Renata M Martin, Juste Simanauskaite, Nobuko Uchida, Matthew H Porteus, Frank M Longo

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder characterized by striatal atrophy. Reduced trophic support due to decreased striatal levels of neurotrophins (NTs), mainly brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), contributes importantly to HD pathogenesis; restoring NTs has significant therapeutic potential. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) offer a scalable platform for NT delivery but have potential safety risks including teratoma formation. We engineered hPSCs to constitutively produce BDNF and contain inducible safeguards to eliminate these cells if safety concerns arise. This study examined the efficacy of intrastriatally transplanted striatal progenitor cells (STRpcs) derived from these hPSCs against HD phenotypes in R6/2 mice. Engrafted STRpcs overexpressing BDNF alleviated motor and cognitive deficits and reduced mutant huntingtin aggregates. Activating the inducible safety switch with rapamycin safely eliminated the engrafted cells. These results demonstrate that BDNF delivery via a novel hPSC-based platform incorporating safety switches could be a safe and effective HD therapeutic.

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来源期刊

Molecular Therapy-Methods & Clinical Development Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology-Molecular Biology

CiteScore

9.90

自引率

4.30%

发文量

163

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： The aim of Molecular Therapy—Methods & Clinical Development is to build upon the success of Molecular Therapy in publishing important peer-reviewed methods and procedures, as well as translational advances in the broad array of fields under the molecular therapy umbrella. Topics of particular interest within the journal''s scope include: Gene vector engineering and production, Methods for targeted genome editing and engineering, Methods and technology development for cell reprogramming and directed differentiation of pluripotent cells, Methods for gene and cell vector delivery, Development of biomaterials and nanoparticles for applications in gene and cell therapy and regenerative medicine, Analysis of gene and cell vector biodistribution and tracking, Pharmacology/toxicology studies of new and next-generation vectors, Methods for cell isolation, engineering, culture, expansion, and transplantation, Cell processing, storage, and banking for therapeutic application, Preclinical and QC/QA assay development, Translational and clinical scale-up and Good Manufacturing procedures and process development, Clinical protocol development, Computational and bioinformatic methods for analysis, modeling, or visualization of biological data, Negotiating the regulatory approval process and obtaining such approval for clinical trials.