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Generation of Human Neurons and Oligodendrocytes from Pluripotent Stem Cells for Modeling Neuron-Oligodendrocyte Interactions
Published on: November 9, 2020
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Familial Alzheimer's disease modelling using induced pluripotent stem cell technology
Lisa Mohamet1, Natalie J Miazga1, Christopher M Ward1
1Lisa Mohamet, Natalie J Miazga, Christopher M Ward, Stem Cell Biology Group, Core Technology Facility, Faculty of Human and Medical Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9NT, United Kingdom.
World Journal of Stem Cells
|April 29, 2014
Summary
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer a promising new method for modeling Alzheimer's disease (AD) in vitro. This approach could accelerate the development of effective AD therapeutics through high-content screening.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Stem Cell Biology
- Drug Discovery
Background:
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with significant diagnostic challenges and a high failure rate in therapeutic development.
- Current diagnostic methods for AD, primarily cognitive assessments, result in misdiagnosis for a large proportion of patients.
- The lack of effective treatments and high attrition rates in drug discovery highlight the urgent need for improved AD models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the potential of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for recapitulating the Alzheimer's disease (AD) phenotype in vitro.
- To assess the utility of iPSC-based models in high-content screening (HCS) for drug discovery.
- To identify existing barriers and future prospects for iPSC technology in AD therapeutic applications.
Main Methods:
- Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from adult cells of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.
- In vitro modeling of AD phenotypes using patient-derived iPSCs.
- Evaluation of iPSC models for high-content screening (HCS) applications in drug discovery.
Main Results:
- iPSC technology provides a method to accurately and reproducibly mimic the AD phenotype in vitro.
- AD-derived iPSCs show potential for use in high-content screening assays for drug discovery.
- Several limitations currently hinder the full realization of iPSC technology in AD therapeutic development.
Conclusions:
- Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent a promising, albeit nascent, platform for Alzheimer's disease (AD) drug discovery.
- Further development is required to overcome current limitations in predictive efficacy, toxicology, and disease modeling using iPSCs.
- iPSC technology holds immense potential to revolutionize AD therapeutic development in the near future.
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