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The TransEuro open-label trial of human fetal ventral mesencephalic transplantation in patients with moderate Parkinson's disease

Barker, Roger A LU ; Lao-Kaim, Nicholas P ; Guzman, Natalie Valle ; Athauda, Dilan ; Bjartmarz, Hjalmar LU ; Björklund, Anders LU orcid ; Church, Alistair ; Cutting, Emma ; Daft, Danielle and Dayal, Viswas , et al. (2026) In Nature Biotechnology 44. p.70-78
Abstract

Transplantation of human fetal ventral mesencephalic tissue in individuals with Parkinson's disease has yielded clinical benefits but also side effects, such as graft-induced dyskinesias. The open-label TransEuro trial ( NCT01898390 ) was designed to determine whether this approach could be further developed into a clinically useful treatment. Owing to poor availability of human fetal ventral mesencephalic tissue, only 11 individuals were grafted at two centers using the same tissue preparation protocol but different implantation devices. No overall clinical effect was seen for the primary endpoint 3 years after grafting. No major graft-induced dyskinesias were seen, but we observed differences in outcome related to transplant device... (More)

Transplantation of human fetal ventral mesencephalic tissue in individuals with Parkinson's disease has yielded clinical benefits but also side effects, such as graft-induced dyskinesias. The open-label TransEuro trial ( NCT01898390 ) was designed to determine whether this approach could be further developed into a clinically useful treatment. Owing to poor availability of human fetal ventral mesencephalic tissue, only 11 individuals were grafted at two centers using the same tissue preparation protocol but different implantation devices. No overall clinical effect was seen for the primary endpoint 3 years after grafting. No major graft-induced dyskinesias were seen, but we observed differences in outcome related to transplant device and/or site. Mean dopamine uptake improved at 18 months in seven individuals according to [18F]fluorodopa positron emission tomography imaging but was restored to near-normal levels in only one individual. Our findings highlight the need for a stem cell source of dopamine neurons for potential Parkinson's disease cell therapy and provide critical insights into how such clinical studies should be approached.

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organization
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Adult, Aged, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Dopamine/metabolism, Dopaminergic Neurons/transplantation, Fetal Tissue Transplantation/methods, Mesencephalon/transplantation, Parkinson Disease/therapy, Positron-Emission Tomography, Treatment Outcome
in
Nature Biotechnology
volume
44
pages
70 - 78
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:105012036332
  • pmid:40316701
ISSN
1546-1696
DOI
10.1038/s41587-025-02567-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
© 2025. The Author(s).
id
ef14e4f5-5d95-4bb5-b654-7c638137a97b
date added to LUP
2026-03-19 12:17:36
date last changed
2026-05-16 08:41:33
@article{ef14e4f5-5d95-4bb5-b654-7c638137a97b,
  abstract     = {{<p>Transplantation of human fetal ventral mesencephalic tissue in individuals with Parkinson's disease has yielded clinical benefits but also side effects, such as graft-induced dyskinesias. The open-label TransEuro trial ( NCT01898390 ) was designed to determine whether this approach could be further developed into a clinically useful treatment. Owing to poor availability of human fetal ventral mesencephalic tissue, only 11 individuals were grafted at two centers using the same tissue preparation protocol but different implantation devices. No overall clinical effect was seen for the primary endpoint 3 years after grafting. No major graft-induced dyskinesias were seen, but we observed differences in outcome related to transplant device and/or site. Mean dopamine uptake improved at 18 months in seven individuals according to [18F]fluorodopa positron emission tomography imaging but was restored to near-normal levels in only one individual. Our findings highlight the need for a stem cell source of dopamine neurons for potential Parkinson's disease cell therapy and provide critical insights into how such clinical studies should be approached.</p>}},
  author       = {{Barker, Roger A and Lao-Kaim, Nicholas P and Guzman, Natalie Valle and Athauda, Dilan and Bjartmarz, Hjalmar and Björklund, Anders and Church, Alistair and Cutting, Emma and Daft, Danielle and Dayal, Viswas and Dunnett, Stephen and Evans, Amy and Grealish, Shane and Hannaway, Naomi and He, Xiaoling and Hewitt, Sam and Kefalopoulou, Zinovia and Mahlknecht, Philipp and Martín-Bastida, Antonio and Farrell, Krista and Moore, Sarah and Bulstrode, Harry and Nakornchai, Tagore and Nelander-Wahlestedt, Jenny and Roupé, Linnea and Paul, Gesine and Peall, Kathryn and Rosser, Anne and Roca-Fernández, Adriana and Rowlands, Sophie and McGorrian, Anne-Marie and Scherf, Caroline and Vinh, Ngoc Nga and Roberton, Victoria and Kelly, Claire and Lelos, Mariah and Torres, Eduardo and Shires, Kate and Hills, Rachel and Williams, Debbie and Roussakis, Andreas-Antonios and Sibley, Krista and Tyers, Pamela and Wijeyekoon, Ruwani and Williams-Gray, Caroline and Foltynie, Thomas and Piccini, Paola and Morris, Robert and Lindvall, Olle and Parmar, Malin and Widner, Håkan}},
  issn         = {{1546-1696}},
  keywords     = {{Adult; Aged; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Dopamine/metabolism; Dopaminergic Neurons/transplantation; Fetal Tissue Transplantation/methods; Mesencephalon/transplantation; Parkinson Disease/therapy; Positron-Emission Tomography; Treatment Outcome}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{70--78}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Biotechnology}},
  title        = {{The TransEuro open-label trial of human fetal ventral mesencephalic transplantation in patients with moderate Parkinson's disease}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02567-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41587-025-02567-2}},
  volume       = {{44}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}