How Do Stem Cells Help Alzheimer’s
Mesenchymal Stem Cells or stromal stem cells can differentiate into many different types of cells within the body, including bone cells, cartilage, muscle cells, and even neural cells. They are primarily found in the bone marrow of every person and remain dormant until called upon to promote healing within the body. They age as we age, and their number and effectiveness decreases over the years.
According to Sung S. Choi and colleagues in a 2014 study titled Alzheimerâs Disease and Stem Cell Therapy
âStem cells have therapeutic effects using regeneration and substitution of cells and tissues themselves. The therapeutic strategy of stem cells has two directions. One is to induce the activation of endogenous stem cell, and the other is to regenerate the injured cell or tissues through stem cell transplantationâ
Diseases Cured By Stem Cells
Oct 29, 2021 | Blog |
Stem cells are at the cutting edge of one of medicines most exciting and groundbreaking fields today. Stem cells have the potential to help treat a variety of ailments by generating healthy new cells and tissue, according to doctors. It has been found that there are several diseases that can be cured by stem cells. Whether you want to safeguard your family as a parent by keeping your babys precious cord blood stem cells when he/she is born or using your own bone marrow cells for treating diseases- stem cells are great in terms of alleviating the effects of various diseases.
Stem cells are derived from cord blood or other sources of similar types of hematopoietic cells like bone marrow, peripheral blood cells can be used to treat a variety of diseases like acute and chronic forms of leukemia, stem cells disorders, myeloproliferative disorders, various neurodegenerative disorders and many more.
Apart from the wide range of disorders that may now be treated, the promise of stem cell treatments is the most exciting line of science as new possibilities emerge. The viability and efficacy of using stem cells to treat diseases are undeniable.
You must be aware of the conditions like lungs diseases, neurological diseases, etc, that can be cured by stem cells but here are some astonishing diseases that can be treated by stem cells:
Type 1 Diabetes in children
Heart- Diseases
Skin conditions
Hearing loss
Clearing Up The Misfolded Protein Aggregates Using Stem Cell Therapy
Another group has looked at bone marrow-derived MSC’s role in the reduction of brain A plaques. injected soluble aggregated A into the mouse hippocampus to induce an acute AD model. They transplanted murine MSCs from the bone marrow into the hippocampus and found A deposition disappeared after 7 days of transplantation. Activated microglia, the macrophages in the brain, was shown to be increased in the transplanted group compared with the control. The study therefore concluded that grafted bone marrowMSCs might induce microglial activation and recruitment, leading to phagocytosis to clear up A plaques in the brain .
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Treatments Today And In The Future
Although some companies may claim to offer stem cell treatments for Alzheimerâs disease, these are outside the approved and carefully controlled process of clinical trials. There have been reports of Phase I clinical trials in the US using mesenchymal stem cells for Alzheimer’s disease. Caution is advised until the results of these trials are published as there are queries about the scientific rationale of this strategy. Currently, no proven, safe and effective stem cell treatment for this disease is yet available. However, scientists are already utilizing stem cell technology to carry out rigorous studies on the causes and effects of Alzheimerâs disease, and expect their findings will play an important role in finding new drugs and perhaps also cell-based therapies in the future.
The Pathology Of Ad And Current Treatment
Alzheimers disease is a multifactorial brain disorder, with several pathogenic factors including genetic factors, oxidative stress, A-induced neurotoxicity, excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cytoskeletal alteration of synapse components therefore, it is complicated to determine its exact pathophysiologic cascade . There are several assumptions that explain AD neuropathy such as cholinergic assumption, oxidative stress assumption, and amyloid cascade assumption . However, approximately one-third of AD patients showed no radiographic signs of amyloid plaques . Therefore, more advanced diagnostic approaches should be developed to enable the early diagnosis of AD .
Amyloid cascade hypothesis assumed that the uncontrolled proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein results in the excessive accumulation of A deposits . APP is hydrolyzed through two major pathways the non-amyloidogenic pathway that leads to the generation of non-pathogenic amyloid products and the amyloidogenic pathway that results in the formation of two forms of A peptides: predominant A-40 and fibrillogenic A-42 , involved in AD pathology . Accumulation of A plaques induces neurotoxicity and triggers a cascade of pathological events leading to neuroapoptosis in the central nervous system , .
Fig. 1Fig. 2
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Applications Of Ipscs In Ad Modeling
Potential applications of developing iPSC technology in AD modeling and drug discovery. iPSCs edited from somatic cells can differentiate into multiple neuronal cells, which can simulate the complex interactions between neuronal cells in vivo by 3D co-culture. These reprogramming strategy and models have promising potential to facilitate neurodegenerative disease research, drug discovery, and clinical applications. NPC: neural precursor cells
Age is the primary risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, including AD therefore, using stem cells to study AD may seem counterintuitive. However, in the very early stages of differentiation, neurons differentiated from iPSCs with FAD mutations, or iPSCs from patients with AD, exhibit AD-related phenotypes . These alterations parallel the stages of AD progression, which are understudied in vivo. Genomewide association studies have shown that alterations in many different genes can promote the development of AD, and different genetic changes in patients with AD shared pathologic manifestations in some cases . Generating specific individual brain cells of iPSCs has potential applications for patient-specific treatment .
Neurons.
Astrocytes.
Microglia.
Oligodendrocytes.
Is There A Risk Of Immune Rejection From Stem Cells
Transplanted stem cells, like any transplanted organ, can be recognized by the immune system as foreign and then rejected. In organ transplants such as liver, kidney, or heart, people must be on immune suppressive drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent the immune system from recognizing that organ as foreign and destroying it.The likelihood of the immune system rejecting a transplant of embryonic stem cell-based tissue depends on the origin of that tissue. Stem cells isolated from IVF embryos will have a genetic makeup that will not match that of the person who receives the transplant. That persons immune system will recognize those cells as foreign and reject the tissue unless a person is on powerful immune suppressive drugs.The same is true for adult stem cells from a donor.Stem cells generated through SCNT or iPS cell technology, on the other hand, are a perfect genetic match. The immune system would likely overlook that transplanted cells, seeing it as a normal part of the body. Still, some suggest that even if the cells are perfectly matched, they may not entirely escape the notice of the immune system. Cancer cells, for example, have the same genetic make up as surrounding tissue and yet the immune system will often identify and destroy early tumors. Until more information is available from animal studies it will be hard to know whether transplanted patient-specific cells are likely to call the attention of the immune system.
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What Is Alzheimers Disease
Alzheimers Disease is the commonest form of dementia or a neurological disorder in which the mind is befuddled due to brain cells dying. This condition is also linked with problems with memory and overall behavior. Since the brain cells are destroyed, there is a breakdown between the nerve cells and the synapses which only worsens with time. The individual suffering from this disease cannot think or perform daily tasks. This disease interferes with daily life and is therefore degenerative. It can also be fatal if not treated.
Alzheimers Disease does not involve the typical aging process of human beings. Instead, it can be typified with these symptoms:
- Difficulty in remembering things and performing small, regular tasks
- Indecision
Why Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Mesenchymal stem cells are specially harnessed from the patients in the treatment of AD as they are easily available and for their ease of differentiating into potential neuronal cell types. They have the blood-brain barrier penetration property, are low on tumorigenicity and can incite an immune response. The bone marrow-derived mesenchymal cells increase their immune-modulatory ability by the releasing soluble factors and secreting neurotrophic factors.
The beneficial properties of mesenchymal cells stimulate the proliferation and survival of the dead or damaged tissues and nerve cells. Their anti-inflammatory and immune modulatory properties also contribute to the recovery in patients with Alzheimers disease. Thus, the consistency of MSCs is supposedly embedded in phenotypic expression and differentiation and based on its safety and effectiveness.
Cell treatment for AD may not completely cure the patients but can help them to gain control over their relapses.
Cell Therapy is beneficial for many types of disorders that are said to be beyond restoration. They includes neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy, autism, muscular dystrophy, brain stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, etc. Various hospitals around the globe utilize mesenchymal cells to regenerate functional tissues and damaged or injured organs.
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Mechanistic Actions Of Transplanted Stem Cells For Treatment Of Ad
Regenerative medicine using stem cells could represent a promising therapeutic approach for the management of chronic disorders like AD this is mainly attributed to the potential actions exerted by stem cells such as improving the neurogenic potential, exerting anti-inflammatory effect, presenting neurotrophic support, and having an anti-amyloidogenic potential .
Fig. 5
Exogenous Neural Progenitor/stem Cells
The success of isolation and easy gene-engineered modification of embryonic stem cells and NSCs in vitro profoundly provides researchers a promising tool to replace the injured neurons in the AD brain. Therefore, the cell transplantation strategy has given rise to hopes for clinical application of these in vitro produced neuronal cells in the cell replacement procedures for AD.
Since chronic inflammation is a characteristic property of AD brain, transplantation of neuronal precursor cells has been proven to particularly inhibit ongoing inflammatory reactivity. Researchers have tested that the intrahippocampal transplantation of NPCs is effective in attenuating inflammatory responses and plays a neuroprotection role in beta-amyloid 42 peptide-injected rat hippocampus, indicating effects of NPCs transplantation in AD models are consistent with cellular actions to attenuate inflammatory reactivity.
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How Does Stem Cell Supplement Treat Alzheimers Disease
There are three ways by which Stem Cell Supplement can treat Alzheimers Disease:
- Stem cells are grown in the damaged part of the brain. This method can help patients regenerate a certain part of the damaged brain, though the new creation wont have the memories that this brain part held earlier. This treated part of the brain may not have any negative signs of Alzheimers Disease, but will only have new memories after the Stem Cell Supplement has been performed.
- Stem cells are used not to rebuild the brain but to heal the damaged portion of the brain.
- Stem cells are used as to transport the medicine directly to the area damaged in the brain. By this process, the drugs are delivered to the targeted spot more effectively.
The Results Of The Study
The mice had their memory tested for 16 weeks after the new cells were put inside their brains. The mice that had received the neural stem cells showed an improvement in short and long-term memory. They also had better spatial awareness compared to animals without the stem cell treatment.
Another feature of Alzheimers is the build-up of plaques of a protein called amyloid within the brain. In the brains of the mice that had received the stem cell transplant, the number of amyloid plaques decreased.
This study also showed that microglia cells that mop up amyloid plaques in healthy brains had been activated in response to the stem cell transplant, helping to protect the brains of the treated mice.
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Treatment Of Alzheimer’s With Stem Cells
Stem cells have the ability to turn into brain cells when they touch dying brain cells, and that being the case, they are used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The size of the cells given is small enough for them to penetrate into the brain tissues and therefore, the recovery rate increases significantly in early diagnosis.
The number of cells to be administered is determined according to the age and weight of the patient. Treatment is carried out using mesenchymal stem cells . The treatment of the patient is decided according to the condition of the patient. It can be performed in 3 sessions 45 days apart or in 3 consecutive days.
The treatment protocol is precisely determined according to the patient’s condition and a different protocol may be applied for each patient. The most obvious and lasting effects of the treatments were obtained in the initial stage of the disease, in which neurological and mental symptoms have appeared . Positive results were also obtained in patients with organic brain lesions . If the disease is too advanced and no adipose tissue can be removed from the patient, using “fetal stem cells” may be recommended for treatment.
As a result of application of stem cells in patients with significant mental disorder, the quality of life of the patients significantly increased as well.
Stem Cell Therapy For Ad
There are some theoretical approaches to treat early AD. One is to target upregulation of resident neural stem cells niches within the adult brain. In fact, this regulation is to stimulate the development of adult hippocampal nerve, which has reached the purpose of compensating the degenerated nerve. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis may play a key role in learning and memory, so promoting this endogenous process may help improve amnesia in patients with early AD. Another approach is to up-regulate growth factors that are known to modulate neurogenesis integrally, either through drug therapy or gene therapy or, as we describe in this paper, through stem cell therapy. This type of growth factor includes brain-derived neurotrophic factor , insulin growth factor-1 , nerve growth factor , vascular endothelial growth factor and so on. Stem cell therapy aims to rescue cognitive function by introducing exogenous stem cells to restore degenerated neural networks. These stem cells can be used as cell delivery systems through the natural or induced production of neuroprotective growth factors utilizing the paracrine bystander mechanism. Alternatively, therapeutic recovery may occur through the differentiation and involvement of stem cells in refilling degenerated neuronal circuits. Its a finely balanced, complex, multi-step process.
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Alzheimers Disease: How Could Stem Cells Help
Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia. It is a complex disease that affects nerve cells in many parts of the brain, making effective treatment very challenging. Can stem cell research help us tackle this challenge in the future?
What do we know?
Alzheimers disease is the leading cause of dementia. People affected by AD commonly experience memory loss, confusion and mood swings.
The cause of AD is still unknown, but several theories focus on two proteins, called amyloid beta and tau, which are found in deteriorating areas of an AD brain.
Clumps of amyloid beta proteins form plaques that may prevent neurons from sending signals properly.
Tau protein is important for normal cell function, but researchers think that when tau gets gnarled up into tau tangles it prevents neurons from getting nutrition.
There is currently no cure for AD.
What are researchers investigating?
No stem cell treatments are currently approved for AD. Positive effects have been seen with neural stem cell transplants given to mice with a disease similar to AD, but researchers are still studying what these stem cells are doing and how they might help repair the brain.
What are the challenges?
There are many different neurons throughout the brain that are destroyed by AD, making each case unique and very difficult to treat.
Plaques and tangles:
Altering Neurogenesis To Restore Memory Function
From the two studies above, stem cells were shown to reduce or protect neurons from toxic aggregation of misfolded protein. However, both studies failed to investigate the effects of plaques or neurofibrillary tangles clearance on cognitive function. A year later, published a study showing that cognitive decline in a transgenic mice model of AD could actually be rescued by NSC therapy without altering the levels of A or tau protein. Interestingly, a previous imaging study showed similar findings which suggested that plaques and tangles could accumulate for many years before cognitive function starts declining . also demonstrated that cognitive improvement correlated positively with neurogenesis as they found an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor , which has role in synaptogenesis and neuronal networking . From this we could hypothesize that the cause of dementia in AD is due to the reduction in neurogenesis caused by the exhaustion of NSCs from long-term toxic damage by A plaques or tau neurofibrillary tangles. Post-mortem immunohistochemical studies in AD cases to investigate co-localization between NSCs and aggregated proteins could be helpful to identify the interaction between A, tau and NSCs.
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Stem Cells Can Improve Functional Recovery For Alzheimer’s
Choi continues to state that the transplantation of stem cells been able to improve functional recovery for Alzheimerâs Disease. Mesenchymal Stem Cells could promote survival, increased metabolic activity and help to rescue the AD cell model in vitro.
Chi also states that the transplantation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells has been able to reduce Aβ deposition, to improved memory and to alleviate the AD pathology in AD mouse models.
What makes stem cell therapy for Alzheimerâs so exciting is its possibility to halt the progression of the disease as well as regenerate damaged neurons rather than just slowing it, or managing symptoms.