Cell-based therapies for Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders that is characterized by the loss of A9 midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Recently, cell replacement therapy for PD using iPS cell-derived dopaminergic neurons is attracting public attention, because it is getting closer to clinical application. In this review, we introduce both of the history of cell replacement therapy for PD using fetal ventral mesencephalic tissues and future perspective using iPS cell-derived midbrain dopaminer- gic neurons. Although we must overcome multitude issues including elimination of undifferentiated cells, graft-induced dyskinesia, guarantee of quality of transplanted cells and so on, from there on, we will bring the new generation of stem cell-based cell therapy for PD.