Parkinson’s gene editing breakthrough in mice offers hope for patients – their damaged neurons could be replaced
- Scientists have discovered a way to convert mouse brain cells into neurons, replacing those damaged by disease
- This could lead to a one-step strategy to treat a number of degenerative diseases that affect millions of people
Scientists have discovered a “one-step strategy” offering hope for treating Parkinson’s disease and other degenerative illnesses after converting mice brain cells into functioning neurons, they reported this week.
The motor defects associated with Parkinson’s are largely caused by the loss of dopamine-emitting neurons – electrically active cells that communicate with others – in the brain. A team of US- and China-based researchers used genome editing to convert a different type of brain cell – glial cells called astrocytes, for their star shape – into neurons, slowing the loss of dopamine and restoring motor functions in injured mice.
“We’re now rebuilding the whole pathway,” Xiang-Dong Fu, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, said. “That becomes a very promising approach to turn non neuronal cells into neurons to replace those lost ones.”
