Saturday, March 20, 2021

In vivo survival and differentiation of Friedreich ataxia iPSC-derived sensory neurons transplanted in the adult dorsal root ganglia

Viventi S, Frausin S, Howden SE, Lim SY, Finol-Urdaneta RK, McArthur JR, Abu-Bonsrah KD, Ng W, Ivanusic J, Thompson L, Dottori M.; Stem Cells Transl Med. 2021 Mar 18. doi: 10.1002/sctm.20-0334. Epub ahead of print. 

 Our data showed survival and differentiation of hESC and FRDA iPSC-derived progenitors in the DRG 2 and 8 weeks post-transplantation, respectively. Donor cells expressed neuronal markers, including sensory and glial markers, demonstrating differentiation to these lineages. These results are novel and a highly significant first step in showing the possibility of using stem cells as a cell replacement therapy to treat DRG neurodegeneration in FRDA as well as other peripheral neuropathies.