Hirotaka Onoe

MHC matching improves engraftment of iPSC-derived neurons in non-human primates

The banking of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-homozygous-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is considered a future clinical strategy for HLA-matched cell transplantation to reduce immunological graft rejection. Here we show the efficacy of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-matched allogeneic neural cell grafting in the brain, which is considered a less immune-responsive tissue, using iPSCs derived from an MHC homozygous cynomolgus macaque. Positron emission tomography imaging reveals neuroinflammation associated with an immune response against MHC-mismatched grafted cells. Immunohistological analyses reveal that MHC-matching reduces the immune response by suppressing the accumulation of microglia (Iba-1+) and lymphocytes (CD45+) into the grafts. Consequently, MHC-matching increases the survival of grafted dopamine neurons (tyrosine hydroxylase: TH+). The effect of an immunosuppressant, Tacrolimus, is also confirmed in the same experimental setting. Our results demonstrate the rationale for MHC-matching in neural cell grafting to the brain and its feasibility in a clinical setting.Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) matching improves graft survival rates after organ transplantation. Here the authors show that in macaques, MHC-matched iPSC-derived neurons provide better engraftment in the brain, with a lower immune response and higher survival of the transplanted neurons.

Kinetics of neurodegeneration based on a risk-related biomarker in animal model of glaucoma.

BackgroundNeurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases progress slowly and steadily over years or decades. They show significant between-subject variation in progress and clinical symptoms, which makes it difficult to predict the course of long-term disease progression with or without treatments. Recent technical advances in biomarkers have facilitated earlier, preclinical diagnoses of neurodegeneration by measuring or imaging molecules linked to pathogenesis. However, there is no established “biomarker model” by which one can quantitatively predict the progress of neurodegeneration. Here, we show predictability of a model with risk-based kinetics of neurodegeneration, whereby neurodegeneration proceeds as probabilistic events depending on the risk.ResultsWe used five experimental glaucomatous animals, known for causality between the increased intraocular pressure (IOP) and neurodegeneration of visual pathways, and repeatedly measured IOP as well as white matter integrity by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) as a biomarker of axonal degeneration. The IOP in the glaucomatous eye was significantly increased than in normal and was varied across time and animals; thus we tested whether this measurement is useful to predict kinetics of the integrity. Among four kinds of models of neurodegeneration, constant-rate, constant-risk, variable-risk and heterogeneity models, goodness of fit of the model and F-test for model selection showed that the time course of optic nerve integrity was best explained by the variable-risk model, wherein neurodegeneration kinetics is expressed in an exponential function across cumulative risk based on measured IOP. The heterogeneity model with stretched exponential decay function also fit well to the data, but without statistical superiority to the variable-risk model. The variable-risk model also predicted the number of viable axons in the optic nerve, as assessed by immunohistochemistry, which was also confirmed to be correlated with the pre-mortem integrity of the optic nerve. In addition, the variable-risk model identified the disintegrity in the higher-order visual pathways, known to underlie the transsynaptic degeneration in this disease.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that the variable-risk model, using a risk-related biomarker, could predict the spatiotemporal progression of neurodegeneration. This model, virtually equivalent to survival analysis, may allow us to estimate possible effect of neuroprotection in delaying progress of neurodegeneration.

Molecular Brain Imaging of Personality Traits in Nonhuman Primates: A Study of the Common Marmoset

In vivo noninvasive brain imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) using positron-labeled tracers that bind to target molecules enables quantitative brain mapping of molecules across species, including humans. We established a PET imaging method for conscious common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), a small primate species noted for its high social tolerance and cooperative sociality. We used this method to examine the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems of the common marmoset brain. In particular, we examined the relation between factorial scores of behavioral personality traits and binding potentials of serotonin and dopamine transporters, which regulate rates of neurotransmission, using radioligands such as [11C]DASB and [11C]PE2I, respectively. We found specific neurochemical and neuroanatomical associations with personality traits of individual common marmosets that mirror those in humans. These results demonstrate that molecular brain imaging combined with quantitative behavioral analysis can provide valuable information for understanding the neural bases of personality in nonhuman primates and, potentially, humans. Studies of this type can also be useful in highlighting how genes and the environment influence personality.