Simmons Danielle A, Selvaraj Sridhar, Chen Tingshuo, Cao Gloria, Camelo Talita Souto, McHugh Tyne L M, Gonzalez Selena, Martin Renata M, Simanauskaite Juste, Uchida Nobuko, Porteus Matthew H, Longo Frank M
Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2025 Jan 22;33(1):101415. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2025.101415. eCollection 2025 Mar 13.
Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder characterized by striatal atrophy. Reduced trophic support due to decreased striatal levels of neurotrophins (NTs), mainly brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), contributes importantly to HD pathogenesis; restoring NTs has significant therapeutic potential. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) offer a scalable platform for NT delivery but have potential safety risks including teratoma formation. We engineered hPSCs to constitutively produce BDNF and contain inducible safeguards to eliminate these cells if safety concerns arise. This study examined the efficacy of intrastriatally transplanted striatal progenitor cells (STRpcs) derived from these hPSCs against HD phenotypes in R6/2 mice. Engrafted STRpcs overexpressing BDNF alleviated motor and cognitive deficits and reduced mutant huntingtin aggregates. Activating the inducible safety switch with rapamycin safely eliminated the engrafted cells. These results demonstrate that BDNF delivery via a novel hPSC-based platform incorporating safety switches could be a safe and effective HD therapeutic.
亨廷顿病(HD)是一种常染色体显性神经退行性疾病,其特征为纹状体萎缩。由于神经营养因子(NTs),主要是脑源性神经营养因子(BDNF)的纹状体水平降低而导致的营养支持减少,在HD发病机制中起重要作用;恢复NTs具有显著的治疗潜力。人类多能干细胞(hPSCs)为NTs递送提供了一个可扩展的平台,但存在包括畸胎瘤形成在内的潜在安全风险。我们对hPSCs进行基因改造,使其组成性地产生BDNF,并包含诱导性保障措施,以便在出现安全问题时消除这些细胞。本研究检测了源自这些hPSCs的纹状体祖细胞(STRpcs)脑内注射移植对R6/2小鼠HD表型的疗效。移植的过表达BDNF的STRpcs减轻了运动和认知缺陷,并减少了突变型亨廷顿蛋白聚集体。用雷帕霉素激活诱导性安全开关可安全地消除移植细胞。这些结果表明,通过一个包含安全开关的新型基于hPSC的平台递送BDNF可能是一种安全有效的HD治疗方法。