Patient-specific co-culture model of microglia-like cells for neurodegenerative disorder research

This technology is a method of deriving human microglia-like cells from genotyped patients and co-culturing them with rat primary neurons in the presence of human fluids for use in disease modelling and high-throughput drug screening.

Unmet Need: Inclusion of microglia in neurodegenerative disorder culture models

Therapeutic development for neurodegenerative disorders is limited by representative disease modeling and drug screening systems. Animal models are hindered by severe differences in the nervous systems of animals and humans, and current cell-based systems are limited in their scope. Particularly, current cell-based culture models do not include microglia, yet neurodegenerative disorders have been strongly linked with microglia dysfunction.

The Technology: Patient-specific co-culture model of monocyte-derived microglia

This technology derives human microglia-like cells from a genotyped patient’s monocytes. The microglia-like cells are co-cultured with rat primary neurons in the presence of human fluids collected from neurodegenerative disease patients as well as healthy controls. These cultures can be easily analyzed up to three weeks after seeding for microglia phagocytic activity and cell viability. Additionally, RNA sequencing can analyze further functionality. As such, this technology provides an attractive in vitro system to model neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and a potential high-throughput drug screening system.

This technology uses human monocyte-derived microglia-like cells that have been validated to recapitulate many aspects of microglia phenotype and function.

Applications:

• High-throughput drug candidate screening for neurodegenerative disorders
• Research tool for studying the microglial phenotypes correlated with brain pathology
• Screening tool for patient-specific treatment formulation
• Diagnostic tool for disease prediction and pathology

Advantages:

• High-throughput platform for neurodegenerative disease analysis and drug screening
• Inclusion of microglia-like cells in culture model
• Microglia-like cells are derived from genotyped subjects

Lead Inventor:

Wassim Elyaman, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending

Related Publications:

• Ryan KJ, White CC, Patel K, Xu J, Olah M, Replogle JM, Frangieh M, Cimpean M, Winn P, McHenry A, Kaskow BJ. "A human microglia-like cellular model for assessing the effects of neurodegenerative disease gene variants" Sci Transl Med. 2017 Dec 20; 9(421).

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU19086

• Licensing Contact: Joan Martínez