Keio University announces: Succeeded in creating a "miniature brain" that reproduces the state of dementia

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

認知症の状態再現した「ミニチュア脳」作製に成功 慶応大発表

2022年9月24日 7時58分

アルツハイマー病の患者の皮膚から作ったiPS細胞を培養し、認知症の状態を再現した立体的なミニチュアの脳を作ることに成功したと慶応大学のグループが発表しました。認知症が起きる仕組みの研究や治療薬の開発に役立つと期待されています。

研究は、慶応大学の岡野栄之教授のグループが行い、国際的な科学雑誌「セル・リポーツ・メソッズ」に発表しました。

グループは、アルツハイマー病の患者の皮膚から作ったiPS細胞を、培養液に含まれるたんぱく質「増殖因子」の濃度を低くした状態で培養しました。

すると、効率的に脳の神経細胞ができ、大きさが2ミリから3ミリほどある「オルガノイド」と呼ばれる立体的な細胞のかたまりができたということです。

この「オルガノイド」では培養から120日目にアルツハイマー病の患者の脳にたまる異常なたんぱく質、「アミロイドβ（ベータ）」が確認できたほか、培養の途中で認知症の発症に関わるとされる「タウ」というたんぱく質を作る遺伝子を入れると、患者の脳と同様に「タウ」がたまる状態を再現できたということです。

グループは病態の一部を再現したミニチュアの脳ができたとしていて、認知症の仕組みの研究や治療薬の開発などに役立つとしています。

岡野教授は「マウスでの研究では、人の病態を再現しきれていなかった。今回、認知症の患者の病態を再現でき、治療法の開発につながると思う」と話しています。

Translation

A group at Keio University announced that it had succeeded in creating a three-dimensional miniature brain that reproduced the state of dementia by culturing iPS cells made from the skin of Alzheimer's disease patients. It was expected to be useful for research on the mechanisms that caused dementia and for the development of therapeutic drugs.

The research was conducted by Professor Hideyuki Okano's group at Keio University and published in the international scientific journal Cell Reports Methods.

The group cultured iPS cells made from the skin of patients with Alzheimer's disease in a state where the concentration of the protein "growth factor" contained in the culture medium was reduced.

As a result, brain nerve cells were formed efficiently, and three-dimensional cell clusters called "organoids" with a size of 2 to 3 mm were formed.

In this "organoid", an abnormal protein "amyloid β (beta)" that accumulated in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients was confirmed 120 days after culturing. By inserting a gene that produced a protein called “Tau”, they were able to reproduce the same state in which “Tau” accumulated in the patient's brain.

The group said that a miniature brain that reproduced part of the pathology had been created, and that it would be useful for research on the mechanism of dementia and development of therapeutic drugs.

Professor Okano said, "Research on mice could not fully reproduce the human pathology. This time, we were able to reproduce the pathology of dementia patients, and I think it will lead to the development of treatment methods."

              So, Japanese scientists are able to reproduce the pathology of dementia patients, and it will lead to the development of treatment methods. This is good news for dementia patients.