Cited by 126Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsHematopoietic Stem Cell TransplantationLysosomal Storage Disorders Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 69 of the 69 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 62 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Treatment of a genetic brain disease by CNS-wide microglia replacement

Open access

Abstract

Hematopoietic cell transplantation after myeloablative conditioning has been used to treat various genetic metabolic syndromes but is largely ineffective in diseases affecting the brain presumably due to poor and variable myeloid cell incorporation into the central nervous system. Here, we developed and characterized a near-complete and homogeneous replacement of microglia with bone marrow cells in mice without the need for genetic manipulation of donor or host. The high chimerism resulted from a competitive advantage of scarce donor cells during microglia repopulation rather than enhanced recruitment from the periphery. Hematopoietic stem cells, but not immediate myeloid or monocyte progenitor cells, contained full microglia replacement potency equivalent to whole bone marrow. To explore its therapeutic potential, we applied microglia replacement to a mouse model for Prosaposin deficiency, which is characterized by a progressive neurodegeneration phenotype. We found a reduction of cerebellar neurodegeneration and gliosis in treated brains, improvement of motor and balance impairment, and life span extension even with treatment started in young adulthood. This proof-of-concept study suggests that efficient microglia replacement may have therapeutic efficacy for a variety of neurological diseases.

Overview

CoChat Summary

Written by AI from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

A busulfan-based bone marrow transplant followed by transient CSF1R inhibition (PLX5622) achieved near-complete, homogeneous microglia replacement by circulation-derived myeloid cells (CDMCs) in mice without genetic manipulation of donor or host. In a Prosaposin-deficiency neurodegeneration model, this microglia replacement reduced cerebellar pathology, improved motor/balance deficits, and extended lifespan even when started in young adulthood.

Key findings

  • Conventional BMT alone gave slow, variable brain chimerism (7.1–73.4%) that plateaued by 12 weeks and did not significantly increase by 24 weeks (p=0.99); adding PLX5622 four weeks after BMT yielded >90% GFP+ donor cells among brain myeloid cells by flow cytometry, stable for at least 6 months.
  • CDMCs were transcriptionally distinct from microglia: RNA-seq found 1296 differentially expressed genes (log2FC > 1, FDR < 0.05; 564 microglia, 732 CDMCs), and CDMCs showed DAM-like gene expression; TMEM119 expression was lower in CDMCs than microglia after BMT only (48.3% vs 87.6%, p < 0.001) but increased after BMT+PLX5622.
  • Purified hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) had the highest brain engraftment capacity: HSC-derived CDMCs reached 10–40% brain myeloid chimerism at 4 weeks and nearly outcompeted helper whole bone marrow after PLX5622, unlike CMPs, bone marrow monocytes, or whole bone marrow controls.
  • In the Prosaposin-deficiency model, treatment at ~8–9 weeks reduced total cerebellar GC species (p < 0.05), increased surviving calbindin-positive Purkinje cells, reduced astrogliosis, improved beam-walk performance (p < 0.001), and extended survival: PSAPHigh→PSAPLow mice survived 19.3% longer than untreated PSAPLow mice (p=0.01), while PSAPLow→PSAPLow mice trended 7.4% longer.

Methods

  • Mice were C57BL/6 females at 8–12 weeks unless noted. BMT used busulfan conditioning (25 mg/kg IP daily for 5 days), 5×10^6 bone marrow cells injected retro-orbitally, and PLX5622 diet (1200 PPM) before and/or for 10 days starting day 28 after BMT.
  • Characterization included flow cytometry, histology/morphometry, FACS-purified RNA-seq, qPCR, ex vivo phagocytosis, two-photon live imaging, LPS-induced cytokine multiplex assay, Y-maze, and behavioral/survival testing in the Prosaposin model.
  • Statistical analyses used unpaired two-tailed Student’s t tests, one-sample t tests, one-way ANOVA with post hoc tests, and log-rank tests for survival; behavior and morphology were blinded, and mice were randomized to treatment groups.

Limitations

  • The paper states that long-term effects of microglia replacement are not well understood, CDMCs may respond differently to CNS pathology than microglia, and BMT has severe side effects including immunosuppression and chemotherapy-associated toxicity, limiting current applicability to aggressive life-threatening diseases.
  • The authors state the treatment was not a cure and effects were partial; PSAP protein was not restored to PSAPHigh levels, and secreted PSAP from CDMCs was lower than from microglia.
  • Evident from the text: the therapeutic proof-of-concept is in a single mouse model, no conventional BMT control was included in the therapeutic arm because of variable brain chimerism, and human translation remains untested.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/scitranslmed.abl9945

Cites

69 of 69 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

70 Own result · 18 Check pending · 16 Own interpretation · 6 No full text of the sources · 6 Not checked yet · 4 Own method · 1 Supported

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 36
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 11

Create a free account to see these claims.

Create a free account to see these assumptions.

69 more claims

Create a free account to see all 121 claims and to verify the 42 references still open.

See all claims — free account

Citations

Cites

Cited by

See all 126

Metadata

Authors
Shibuya, Y., Kumar, K. K., Mader, M. M.-D., Yoo, Y., Ayala, L. A., Zhou, M., Mohr, M. A., Neumayer, G., Kumar, I., Yamamoto, R., Marcoux, P., Liou, B., Bennett, F. C., Nakauchi, H., Sun, Y., Chen, X., Heppner, F. L., Wyss-Coray, T., Südhof, T. C., & Wernig, M.
Affiliations
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • Stanford University (US)
  • Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
  • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DE)
  • Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
  • Kumar, Kevin K.
  • Mader, Marius Marc-Daniel
  • Yoo, Yongjin
  • Wernig, Marius
Venue
Science Translational Medicine
Published
2022-03-16
Volume
14
Issue
636
Pages
eabl9945-eabl9945
ISSN
  • 1946-6234 (ISSN-L)
  • 1946-6242
OpenAlex
W4221042077
Cited by
126
References
69
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 12
FWCI
9.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Science Translational Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • DZNE Pub (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Institute on Aging (P50AG047366, P30AG066515)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R25GM059298)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (P30NS069375, R25NS065741)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Genetics (clinical) › Lysosomal Storage Disorders Research
Keywords
hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, bone marrow chimerism, hematopoietic stem cells, neurodegeneration, gliosis, cerebellum, motor impairment, lifespan extension, myeloablative conditioning
MeSH terms
Animals, Bone Marrow Cells, Brain, Brain Diseases, Central Nervous System, Microglia, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Mice

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-12, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-12 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review