1. Pharmacologic fibroblast reprogramming into photoreceptors restores vision
- Author
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Subrata Batabyal, Thomas Thomas Mock, Michael J. Forster, Aiguo Ni, Yan Fan, Delaney L Davis, Zongchao Han, Anand Swaroop, Nathalie Sumien, Wei Zhang, Ritu A. Shetty, Samarendra K. Mohanty, Rafal Farjo, Koray Dogan Kaya, Sai H. Chavala, and Biraj Mahato
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,genetic structures ,Vision Disorders ,Mitochondrion ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Mice ,0302 clinical medicine ,Downregulation and upregulation ,Axin Protein ,PDE6B ,Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells ,medicine ,Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors ,Humans ,Animals ,Fibroblast ,Vision, Ocular ,Multidisciplinary ,Chemistry ,Retinal Degeneration ,NF-kappa B ,Fibroblasts ,Cellular Reprogramming ,Flow Cytometry ,eye diseases ,Cell biology ,Mitochondria ,Transplantation ,Disease Models, Animal ,Protein Transport ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Reflex ,sense organs ,Stem cell ,Reactive Oxygen Species ,Reprogramming ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Signal Transduction - Abstract
Photoreceptor loss is the final common endpoint in most retinopathies that lead to irreversible blindness, and there are no effective treatments to restore vision1,2. Chemical reprogramming of fibroblasts offers an opportunity to reverse vision loss; however, the generation of sensory neuronal subtypes such as photoreceptors remains a challenge. Here we report that the administration of a set of five small molecules can chemically induce the transformation of fibroblasts into rod photoreceptor-like cells. The transplantation of these chemically induced photoreceptor-like cells (CiPCs) into the subretinal space of rod degeneration mice (homozygous for rd1, also known as Pde6b) leads to partial restoration of the pupil reflex and visual function. We show that mitonuclear communication is a key determining factor for the reprogramming of fibroblasts into CiPCs. Specifically, treatment with these five compounds leads to the translocation of AXIN2 to the mitochondria, which results in the production of reactive oxygen species, the activation of NF-κB and the upregulation of Ascl1. We anticipate that CiPCs could have therapeutic potential for restoring vision. A set of five small molecules can induce the transformation of fibroblasts into rod photoreceptor-like cells, which can partially restore pupil reflex and visual function when transplanted into a rod degeneration mouse model.
- Published
- 2018