Key improvements to Parkinson's disease cell therapies

Researchers have demonstrated that a transplant surgical procedure (called 'needle trauma') triggers a profound immune response and causes the death of most grafted dopamine neurons. They also found that co-transplantation of neuronal cell therapy with host regulatory T cells resulted in effective suppression of needle trauma and significant improvement in the survival and recovery of grafts. These findings suggest a path for the 'realistic' use of cell therapy to treat neurodegenerative disorders.