Transplantation of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural precursor cells for treatment of spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a common cause of disability and financial hardship and is currently without a cure; injuries to the cervical spine are the most severe, sometimes resulting in quadriplegia. Transplantation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) is a promising therapeutic strategy for cervical SCI. NPCs have the ability to differentiate into both neuronal and glial lineages making them the ideal cell types for SCI therapy. However, some of the stem cell sources used to generate NPCs have associated logistical, ethical, and immune rejection challenges. NPCs derived from induced human pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs-NPCs) represent a cell source that circumvents ethical and moral concerns while allowing for autologous transplantation. In this chapter, we describe how to generate NPCs from skin fibroblasts taken from patients and how to genetically manipulate these cells to equip them with more beneficial properties. We also explain how to generate a rodent cervical SCI model and transplant these cells for preclinical studies.