Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33848-y
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Funding
- TU Dresden CRTD
- DZNE Helmholtz
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) [SPP1738 KA2794/3-1, 399487982, SPP2127 KA2794/5-1, KA2794/5-2]
- Helmholtz Association within the Network of Excellence [007]
- Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) [01EK1613A]
- ERA-NET Neuron ReDiMoAMD [01EW2106]
- MedDrive Grant TU Dresden, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus
- EyeNovative Award (Novartis Pharma GmbH)
- NCL Foundation, Hamburg, Germany
- TU Dresden CRTD Seed Grant
- TU Dresden, CRTD Stem Cell Engineering Facility
- EFRE [ZT-I-0007]
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Human organoids can provide valuable insights into complex and incurable neuropathologies. In this study, researchers successfully established a human retinal organoid system that replicates various aspects of the human retina, including those within the macula. By combining TNF and HBEGF, the researchers induced the degeneration of photoreceptors, glial pathologies, dyslamination, and scar formation, uncovering a previously unknown pathomechanism. This research could have significant implications for age-related macular degeneration and other related diseases, offering potential therapeutic approaches.
Human organoids could facilitate research of complex and currently incurable neuropathologies, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which causes blindness. Here, we establish a human retinal organoid system reproducing several parameters of the human retina, including some within the macula, to model a complex combination of photoreceptor and glial pathologies. We show that combined application of TNF and HBEGF, factors associated with neuropathologies, is sufficient to induce photoreceptor degeneration, glial pathologies, dyslamination, and scar formation: These develop simultaneously and progressively as one complex phenotype. Histologic, transcriptome, live-imaging, and mechanistic studies reveal a previously unknown pathomechanism: Photoreceptor neurodegeneration via cell extrusion. This could be relevant for aging, AMD, and some inherited diseases. Pharmacological inhibitors of the mechanosensor PIEZO1, MAPK, and actomyosin each avert pathogenesis; a PIEZO1 activator induces photoreceptor extrusion. Our model offers mechanistic insights, hypotheses for neuropathologies, and it could be used to develop therapies to prevent vision loss or to regenerate the retina in patients suffering from AMD and other diseases.
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