WCN 2023 | Recent developments in cell replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease

Dr Alfonso Fasano, MD, PhD, from the University of Toronto, Canada, discusses recent promising cell replacement therapy trials targeting Parkinson’s disease (PD) from research labs around the world. Early cell replacement techniques using embryonic or fetal tissue transplantation have now been largely replaced by the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) due to ethical issues and unwanted side effects such as runaway dyskinesias. By reverse engineering iPSCs from cell samples taken from the PD patients themselves and then differentiating them to generate dopaminergic neurons, the issue of immune response is overcome. Among other advantages, this makes iPSCs an extremely promising field of research in PD therapies. iPSC lines established with specific genetic risk factors can also be corrected prior to transplantation back into the patient, to try to re-establish function. The first human trial for PD iPSC transplantation took place in Japan in 2018 and several groups have since shown promising results. This interview took place at the World Congress of Neurology (WCN) 2023 in Montreal, Canada.

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