Ana Artero

Dr. Ana Artero


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 October 2020 in Progress in Neurobiology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
AAAna Artero
Ana Artero
FRFrancisco Javier Rodriguez-Jimenez
Francisco Javier Rodriguez-Jimenez
Pavla JendelovaPavla Jendelova
Pavla Jendelova
KVKirstin B. VanderWall
Kirstin B. VanderWall
JMJason S. Meyer
Jason S. Meyer
ESErceg Slaven
Erceg Slaven

Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
AAAna Artero
Ana Artero
KLKathleen Long
Kathleen Long
ABAndrew Bassett
Andrew Bassett
AÁAlmudena Ávila-Fernandez
Almudena Ávila-Fernandez
MCMarta Corton
Marta Corton
ESErceg Slaven
Erceg Slaven
Hereditary retinal dystrophies (HRD) represent a significant cause of blindness, affecting mostly retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors (PRs), and currently suffer from a lack of effective treatments. Highly specialized RPE and PR cells interact mutually in the functional retina, therefore primary HRD affecting one cell type leading to a secondary HRD in the other cells. Phagocytosis is one of the primary functions of the RPE and studies have discovered that mutations in the phagocytosis-associated gene Mer tyrosine kinase receptor (MERTK) lead to primary RPE dystrophy. Treatment strategies for this rare disease include the replacement of diseased RPE with healthy autologous RPE to prevent PR degeneration. The generation and directed differentiation of patient-derived human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) may provide a means to generate autologous therapeutically-relevant adult cells, including RPE and PR. However, the continued presence of the MERTK gene mutation in patient-derived hiPSCs represents a significant drawback. Recently, we reported the generation of a hiPSC model of MERTK-associated Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) that recapitulates disease phenotype and the subsequent creation of gene-corrected RP-hiPSCs using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9. In this study, we differentiated gene-corrected RP-hiPSCs into RPE and found that these cells had recovered both wild-type MERTK protein expression and the lost phagocytosis of fluorescently-labeled photoreceptor outer segments observed in uncorrected RP-hiPSC-RPE. These findings provide proof-of-principle for the utility of gene-corrected hiPSCs as an unlimited cell source for personalized cell therapy of rare vision disorders.