title: Conversion of pericytes to neurons: a new guest at the reprogramming convention.
abstract: Reprogramming strategies allow for the generation of virtually any cell type of the human body, which could be useful for cell-based therapy. Among the different reprogramming technologies available, direct lineage conversion offers the possibility to change the phenotype of a cell type to another one without pushing cells backwards to a plastic/proliferative stage. This approach has raised the possibility to apply a similar process in vivo in order to compensate for functional cell loss. Historically, the cerebral tissue is a prime choice for developing cell-based treatments. As local pericyte accumulation is observed after central nervous system injury, it can be reasoned that this cell type might be a good candidate for the conversion into new neurons in vivo. In this article, and by focusing on recent observations from Karow and colleagues demonstrating the possibility to convert human brain-derived pericytes into functional neurons, we present a brief overview of the state of the art and attempt to offer perspective as to how these interesting laboratory findings could be translated in the clinic.
authors: Emmanuel
authors: E
authors: Nivet
authors: Ignacio
authors: I
authors: Sancho-Martinez
authors: Juan Carlos
authors: JC
authors: Izpisua Belmonte
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D020286:Pericytes / Q000502:physiology*