Techniques for generating human dopaminergic neurons: reprogramming and differentiation

Perhaps more than any other medical field, stem cell research could have a significant and wide-reaching near-term public health impact. Cell-replacement therapies and other treatments are in currently in development for over 50 diseases.

Recent advances have been achieved in techniques for generating human neurons that could help – both through reprogramming somatic cells directly to neurons, and in differentiating pluripotent cells to neurons.

• Reprogramming is converting cells from one type to another by introducing additional genes (e.g.; transcription factors) to transform them. Recent research makes use of both canonical and novel transcription factors, and the application of growth factors, microRNAs, and small molecules. This technique is particularly vaunted as it may be possible to reprogram human adult cells such as skin cells, which are easily attainable, into any other type of needed cell, such as heart cells and neurons.
• Differentiation is the other main technique for generating neurons. In this case, human pluripotent stem cells are differentiated to neural cells with the introduction of growth factors and detailed cell-culturing processes.

Neurons and neural stem cells are of particular translational interest due to the lack of effective clinical therapies for neurodegenerative disease. While these emerging techniques are promising, some of the processes are relatively new, and the fidelity and functionality of generated neurons and neural stem cells in clinical application is yet to be confirmed.

Advances in translational antiaging skin research

There are many exciting innovations in translational anti-aging skin research. Personalized genomics is an important emerging field of science being applied to human biology with applications in skin disease risk assessment, wellness profiling, and product response customization.

Simultaneously, there are promising anti-wrinkle remedies being commercialized such as cellular therapies, topical treatments, retinoid and botox substitutes, and advances in skin manufacturing initially developed by the military for battlefield healing are starting to be applied to the aesthetic dermatology market, for example, dermal substitutes, next-generation skin grafting, and spray-on skin.

Excerpted from Translational antiaging skin research.

Steady advance of stem cell therapies

Stem cell research and related therapies (including regenerative medicine and cellular therapies) is an industry with a strong possibility of having a significant near-term impact on worldwide public health. One reason is the industry’s linkage between policy, science, industry, and patient advocacy, as was clear in the attendance and programming at the 7th annual World Stem Cell Summit held in Pasadena CA, October 3-5. Other science-driven fields such as synthetic biology, nanomedicine, and aging might benefit from cultivating such a multi-disciplinary perspective. Stem cell therapies are useful not only in cell-replacement therapies, but also in disease modeling, drug discovery, and drug toxicity screening.

Disease therapeutics and clinical trial focus
Stem cell therapies are currently being applied to over 50 diseases particularly in the areas of heart, lung, neurodegenerative, and eye disease, and cancer and HIV. Dozens of companies are developing therapeutic solutions which are in different stages of clinical use and clinical trials. Some high-profile therapies include Dendreon’s Provenge for prostate cancer, Geron’s first-ever embryonic stem cell trials for spinal cord injury, Fibrocell’s laViv cellular therapy for wrinkles, and well-established commercial skin substitutes (Organogenesis’s Apligraf and Advanced BioHealing’s Dermagraft).

Policy
Stem cell policy issues under consideration include medical tourism, standards for large-scale stem cell manufacturing, and lingering ethical debates over the use of embryonic stem cells.

Science
Contemporary stem cell science advances include a focus on techniques for the direct reprogramming of cells from one lineage to another without having to return to pluripotency as an intermediary step, improved means of generating and measuring induced pluripotent cells, and progress in approaches to neurodegenerative disease, for example establishing causal factors for early-onset Parkinson’s disease, generating neuronal cells and dopaminergic cells, and neural stem cell lumbar implantation clinical trials.