iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons for parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder resulting from the death of midbrain dopaminergic neurons and currently remains incurable despite enormous research efforts. The development of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offers the unique possibility to study disease mechanisms in any human tissue including patient-derived dopaminergic neurons. Of particular interest are the inherited monogenic forms of PD as they closely resemble the more common “idiopathic” PD and, through the mutated protein, provide a clear research target. This review provides an overview on the findings of iPSC-based genetic PD studies and explores them for unifying theories underlying PD disease mechanisms.