Patient-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Models for Phenotypic Screening in the Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses

Batten disease or neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) is a group of rare, fatal, inherited neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorders. Numerous genes (CLN1–CLN8, CLN10–CLN14) were identified in which mutations can lead to NCL; however, the underlying pathophysiology remains elusive. Despite this, the NCLs share some of the same features and symptoms but vary in respect to severity and onset of symptoms by age. Some common symptoms include the progressive loss of vision, mental and motor deterioration, epileptic seizures, premature death, and in the rare adult-onset, dementia. Currently, all forms of NCL are fatal, and no curative treatments are available. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can differentiate into any cell type of the human body. Cells reprogrammed from a patient have the advantage of acquiring disease pathogenesis along with recapitulation of disease-associated phenotypes. They serve as practical model systems to shed new light on disease mechanisms and provide a phenotypic screening platform to enable drug discovery. Herein, we provide an overview of available iPSC models for a number of different NCLs. More specifically, we highlight findings in these models that may spur target identification and drug development.