Induced pluripotent stem cell models of progranulin-deficient frontotemporal dementia uncover specific reversible neuronal defects.

Multiple FTD patient-specific iPSC lines were generated for the first time, Human neurons of progranulin haploinsufficiency have been established. PGRN S116X neurons are more sensitive to kinase inhibitors-induced cell stress, which can be rescued by ectopic progranulin expression, revealing progranulin-dependent cellular defects in FTD. Microarray analysis reveals that the serine/threonine kinase S6K2 (RPS6KB2) and other genes involved in MAPK signaling are dysregulated specifically in neurons with progranulin deficiency. 32 independent human neuronal cultures were analyzed in this study