Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)-derived retinal cells in disease modeling and regenerative medicine

Publication date: Available online 12 February 2018 Source:Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy Author(s): Reena Rathod, Harshini Surendran, Rajani Battu, Jogin Desai, Rajarshi Pal Retinal degenerative disorders are a leading cause of the inherited, irreversible and incurable vision loss. While various rodent model systems have provided crucial information in this direction, lack of disease-relevant tissue availability and species-specific differences have proven to be a major roadblock. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) have opened up a whole new avenue of possibilities not just in understanding the disease mechanism but also potential therapeutic approaches towards a cure. In this review, we have summarized recent advances in the methods of deriving retinal cell types from iPSCs which can serve as a renewable source of disease-relevant cell population for basic as well as translational studies. We also provide an overview of the ongoing efforts towards developing a suitable in vitro model for modeling retinal degenerative diseases. This basic understanding in turn has contributed to advances in translational goals such as drug screening and cell-replacement therapies. Furthermore we discuss gene editing approaches for autologous repair of genetic disorders and allogeneic transplantation of stem cell-based retinal derivatives for degenerative disorders with an ultimate goal to restore vision. It is pertinent to note however, that these exciting new developments ...
Source: Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research