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Regenerative medicine

Survival of the fittest glia

Nature Biotechnology (2023)Cite this article

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Human glial progenitors transplanted into a chimeric mouse brain replace sick or older human glia, a finding that could one day lead to new treatments for neurological disease.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s mainly affect the behavior of neurons, but in many cases they are accompanied by defects in the functioning of glial cells1. In a study in Nature Biotechnology, Vieira et al. propose an intriguing cell-based strategy for correcting glial pathology2. Using mice with a humanized glial system, the authors show that newly transplanted human glial progenitor cells (GPCs) can outcompete and replace human glial cells affected either by a Huntington’s disease genotype or by aging. Although much future research will be needed, these results raise the tantalizing possibility of glial cell replacement for the treatment of Huntington’s disease, aging and possibly other neurodegenerative diseases.

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Fig. 1: Young glial progenitor cells (GPCs) can outcompete and replace older and diseased GPCs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    V. Alexandra Moser & Clive N. Svendsen

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  1. V. Alexandra Moser
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  2. Clive N. Svendsen
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Correspondence to Clive N. Svendsen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Moser, V.A., Svendsen, C.N. Survival of the fittest glia. Nat Biotechnol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01944-z

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