- Bershteyn, Marina;
- Bröer, Sonja;
- Parekh, Mansi;
- Maury, Yves;
- Havlicek, Steven;
- Kriks, Sonja;
- Fuentealba, Luis;
- Lee, Seonok;
- Zhou, Robin;
- Subramanyam, Geetha;
- Sezan, Meliz;
- Sevilla, Eric;
- Blankenberger, Whitney;
- Spatazza, Julien;
- Zhou, Li;
- Nethercott, Hubert;
- Traver, David;
- Hampel, Philip;
- Kim, Hannah;
- Watson, Michael;
- Salter, Naomi;
- Nesterova, Anastasia;
- Au, Wai;
- Banik, Gautam;
- Bulfone, Alessandro;
- Priest, Catherine;
- Nicholas, Cory;
- Kriegstein, Arnold;
- Rubenstein, John;
- Alvarez-Buylla, Arturo
Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common focal epilepsy. One-third of patients have drug-refractory seizures and are left with suboptimal therapeutic options such as brain tissue-destructive surgery. Here, we report the development and characterization of a cell therapy alternative for drug-resistant MTLE, which is derived from a human embryonic stem cell line and comprises cryopreserved, post-mitotic, medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) pallial-type GABAergic interneurons. Single-dose intrahippocampal delivery of the interneurons in a mouse model of chronic MTLE resulted in consistent mesiotemporal seizure suppression, with most animals becoming seizure-free and surviving longer. The grafted interneurons dispersed locally, functionally integrated, persisted long term, and significantly reduced dentate granule cell dispersion, a pathological hallmark of MTLE. These disease-modifying effects were dose-dependent, with a broad therapeutic range. No adverse effects were observed. These findings support an ongoing phase 1/2 clinical trial (NCT05135091) for drug-resistant MTLE.