Modeling Familial Parkinson's Disease Using Patient-specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Parkinson's disease (PD), a common neurodegenerative disorder, is characterized by selective degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. There is no effective treatment to delay or halt the progression of PD. The establishment of disease models, based on human biology, is therefore important for developing effective disease-modifying therapies. The recent progress of human induced pluripotent stem cell-associated technologies provides an opportunity to understand disease etiology, discover new drugs, and develop novel therapeutic interventions.