Parkinson's Disease In A Petri Dish
Main Category: Parkinson's Disease
Article Date: 05 Mar 2011
Neurons have been derived from the skin of a woman with a genetic form of Parkinson's disease and have been shown to replicate some key features of the condition in a dish, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The scientists hope to use the neurons to learn more about the disorder and to test possible treatments. Such a tool is critical because there are no good animal models for Parkinson's disease. It also validates the use of induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, to model various diseases.
"Now that we can see that these neurons exhibit some of the earliest signs of the disorder, we can begin to develop methods to screen for factors that might protect them," said Renee Reijo Pera, PhD, director of Stanford's Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education and co-senior author of the research, which will appear in the March issue of Cell Stem Cell.
The iPS cells are created by transforming skin or other specialized cells to look and act like embryonic stem cells. Many scientists and policy-makers have hoped that these cells, which can be created without the use of human embryos, could stand in for their more ethically fraught counterparts.
Recent research from Stanford and elsewhere, however, has begun to identify significant differences between the two classes of stem cells that call into question the ability of iPS cells to completely replace embryonic stem cells. Instead many researchers feel that the true strength of iPS cells may lie in their ability to create disease-specific cell lines for study from patients with a variety of disorders - something that would be difficult to do with embryonic stem cells.
Associate professor of neurosurgery Theo Palmer, PhD, is the other senior author of this new paper; the research was conducted in the labs of both Palmer and Reijo Pera, who is also a professor of obstetrics & gynecology. Ha Nam Nguyen, a former research associate now at John's Hopkins, along with graduate students Blake Byers and Branden Cord are joint first authors of the work.
"This is the first time that neurons from a Parkinson's disease patient have exhibited disease qualities in a petri dish," said Palmer. "And it provides hints of what to look for in patients who have different genetic mutations or where a cause has not been identified. By comparing neurons from patients with different forms of Parkinson's disease, we may find commonalities or differences that will help to optimize future treatments for each patient."
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes the gradual loss of a certain type of neuron in the central nervous system. As the neurons are lost, the patient begins to experience the tremors, movement difficulties and rigidity that are the hallmarks of the condition. It affects about 1 percent of people over the age of 65, and about 5 percent of those over age 85. Currently there is no way to halt the progress of the disease, though some medications can help Parkinson's patients manage their symptoms for several years. Most cases of Parkinson's occur sporadically, but some (between 0.5 percent to about 8 percent) are caused by a genetic mutation.
Main Category: Parkinson's Disease
Article Date: 05 Mar 2011
Neurons have been derived from the skin of a woman with a genetic form of Parkinson's disease and have been shown to replicate some key features of the condition in a dish, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The scientists hope to use the neurons to learn more about the disorder and to test possible treatments. Such a tool is critical because there are no good animal models for Parkinson's disease. It also validates the use of induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, to model various diseases.
"Now that we can see that these neurons exhibit some of the earliest signs of the disorder, we can begin to develop methods to screen for factors that might protect them," said Renee Reijo Pera, PhD, director of Stanford's Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education and co-senior author of the research, which will appear in the March issue of Cell Stem Cell.
The iPS cells are created by transforming skin or other specialized cells to look and act like embryonic stem cells. Many scientists and policy-makers have hoped that these cells, which can be created without the use of human embryos, could stand in for their more ethically fraught counterparts.
Recent research from Stanford and elsewhere, however, has begun to identify significant differences between the two classes of stem cells that call into question the ability of iPS cells to completely replace embryonic stem cells. Instead many researchers feel that the true strength of iPS cells may lie in their ability to create disease-specific cell lines for study from patients with a variety of disorders - something that would be difficult to do with embryonic stem cells.
Associate professor of neurosurgery Theo Palmer, PhD, is the other senior author of this new paper; the research was conducted in the labs of both Palmer and Reijo Pera, who is also a professor of obstetrics & gynecology. Ha Nam Nguyen, a former research associate now at John's Hopkins, along with graduate students Blake Byers and Branden Cord are joint first authors of the work.
"This is the first time that neurons from a Parkinson's disease patient have exhibited disease qualities in a petri dish," said Palmer. "And it provides hints of what to look for in patients who have different genetic mutations or where a cause has not been identified. By comparing neurons from patients with different forms of Parkinson's disease, we may find commonalities or differences that will help to optimize future treatments for each patient."
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes the gradual loss of a certain type of neuron in the central nervous system. As the neurons are lost, the patient begins to experience the tremors, movement difficulties and rigidity that are the hallmarks of the condition. It affects about 1 percent of people over the age of 65, and about 5 percent of those over age 85. Currently there is no way to halt the progress of the disease, though some medications can help Parkinson's patients manage their symptoms for several years. Most cases of Parkinson's occur sporadically, but some (between 0.5 percent to about 8 percent) are caused by a genetic mutation.