Rescue of impaired blood-brain barrier in tuberous sclerosis complex patient derived neurovascular unit

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a multi-system genetic disease that causes benign tumors in the brain and other vital organs. The most debilitating symptoms result from involvement of the central nervous system and lead to a multitude of severe symptoms including seizures, intellectual disability, autism, and behavioral problems. TSC is caused by heterozygous mutations of either the TSC1 or TSC2 gene and dysregulation of mTOR kinase with its multifaceted downstream signaling alterations is central to disease pathogenesis. Although the neurological sequelae of the disease are well established, little is known about how these mutations might affect cellular components and the function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

We generated TSC disease-specific cell models of the BBB by leveraging human induced pluripotent stem cell and microfluidic cell culture technologies.

Using microphysiological systems, we demonstrate that a BBB generated from TSC2 heterozygous mutant cells shows increased permeability. This can be rescued by wild type astrocytes or by treatment with rapamycin, an mTOR kinase inhibitor.

Our results demonstrate the utility of microphysiological systems to study human neurological disorders and advance our knowledge of cell lineages contributing to TSC pathogenesis and informs future therapeutics.