Direct conversion of patient fibroblasts demonstrates non-cell autonomous toxicity of astrocytes to motor neurons in familial and sporadic ALS

K Meyer, L Ferraiuolo, CJ Miranda… - Proceedings of the …, 2014 - National Acad Sciences
K Meyer, L Ferraiuolo, CJ Miranda, S Likhite, S McElroy, S Renusch, D Ditsworth
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014National Acad Sciences
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) causes motor neuron degeneration, paralysis, and
death. Accurate disease modeling, identifying disease mechanisms, and developing
therapeutics is urgently needed. We previously reported motor neuron toxicity through
postmortem ALS spinal cord-derived astrocytes. However, these cells can only be harvested
after death, and their expansion is limited. We now report a rapid, highly reproducible
method to convert adult human fibroblasts from living ALS patients to induced neuronal …
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) causes motor neuron degeneration, paralysis, and death. Accurate disease modeling, identifying disease mechanisms, and developing therapeutics is urgently needed. We previously reported motor neuron toxicity through postmortem ALS spinal cord-derived astrocytes. However, these cells can only be harvested after death, and their expansion is limited. We now report a rapid, highly reproducible method to convert adult human fibroblasts from living ALS patients to induced neuronal progenitor cells and subsequent differentiation into astrocytes (i-astrocytes). Non-cell autonomous toxicity to motor neurons is found following coculture of i-astrocytes from familial ALS patients with mutation in superoxide dismutase or hexanucleotide expansion in C9orf72 (ORF 72 on chromosome 9) the two most frequent causes of ALS. Remarkably, i-astrocytes from sporadic ALS patients are as toxic as those with causative mutations, suggesting a common mechanism. Easy production and expansion of i-astrocytes now enables rapid disease modeling and high-throughput drug screening to alleviate astrocyte-derived toxicity.
National Acad Sciences