Human Glial Cells as Innovative Targets for the Therapy of Central Nervous System Pathologies

Abstract

In vitro and preclinical in vivo research in the last 35 years has clearly highlighted the crucial physiopathological role of glial cells, namely astrocytes/microglia/oligodendrocytes and satellite glial cells/Schwann cells in the central and peripheral nervous system, respectively. Several possible pharmacological targets to various neurodegenerative disorders and painful conditions have therefore been successfully identified, including receptors and enzymes, and mediators of neuroinflammation. However, the translation of these promising data to a clinical setting is often hampered by both technical and biological difficulties, making it necessary to perform experiments on human cells and models of the various diseases. In this review we will, therefore, summarize the most relevant data on the contribution of glial cells to human pathologies and on their possible pharmacological modulation based on data obtained in post-mortem tissues and in iPSC-derived human brain cells and organoids. The possibility of an in vivo visualization of glia reaction to neuroinflammation in patients will be also discussed.