Are stem cell-based therapies for Parkinson’s disease ready for the clinic in 2016?

Recent news of an impending clinical cell transplantation trial in Parkinson’s disease using parthenogenetic stem cells as a source of donor tissue have raised hopes in the patient community and sparked discussion in the research community. Based on discussions held by a global collaborative initiative on translation of stem cell therapy in Parkinson’s disease, we have identified a set of key questions that we believe should be addressed ahead of every clinical stem cell-based transplantation trial in this disorder. In this article, we first provide a short history of cell therapy in Parkinson’s disease and briefly describe the current state-of-art regarding human stem cell-derived dopamine neurons for use in any patient trial. With this background information as a foundation, we then discuss each of the key questions in relation to the upcoming therapeutic trial and critically assess if the time is ripe for clinical translation of parthenogenetic stem cell technology in Parkinson’s disease.Some of the work discussed in this commentary was supported by grants from the EU FP 7 programme including TRANSEURO and NeuroStemCellRepair, and the Swedish Research Council. RAB is also supported by an NIHR grant of a Biomedical Research Centre to Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by IOP Press