Researchers from Juntendo and Keio universities have come up with a quicker and easier way to generate iPS cells from people with Parkinson's disease, a discovery they claim will go a long way in developing a cure for the neurological disease.
In a paper published Friday in the journal Stem Cell Reports, researchers led by Nobutaka Hattori and Hideyuki Okano report they have established a technology to study a large number of patients by using iPS cells derived from their blood. The key lies in their success in turning the cells into neural stem cells more efficiently, which lets them monitor how the disease progresses in test tubes. They can also study how they react to chemicals, bringing a cure closer.
"This method will allow us to use iPS cells derived from several thousand Parkinson's disease patients treated at Juntendo University in order to study the disease mechanism," the universities said in a statement. "We aim to create a 'Parkinson's Disease iPS Cell Bank' at a scale never seen anywhere else in the world."