Adult human neural stem cell therapeutics: Current developmental status and prospect

Abstract

Over the past two decades, regenerative therapies using stem cell technologies have been developed for various neurological diseases. Although stem cell therapy is an attractive option to reverse neural tissue damage and to recover neurological deficits, it is still under development so as not to show significant treatment effects in clinical settings. In this review, we discuss the scientific and clinical basics of adult neural stem cells (aNSCs), and their current developmental status as cell therapeutics for neurological disease. Compared with other types of stem cells, aNSCs have clinical advantages, such as limited proliferation, inborn differentiation potential into functional neural cells, and no ethical issues. In spite of the merits of aNSCs, difficulties in the isolation from the normal brain, and in the in vitro expansion, have blocked preclinical and clinical study using aNSCs. However, several groups have recently developed novel techniques to isolate and expand aNSCs from normal adult brains, and showed successful applications of aNSCs to neurological diseases. With new technologies for aNSCs and their clinical strengths, previous hurdles in stem cell therapies for neurological diseases could be overcome, to realize clinically efficacious regenerative stem cell therapeutics.

The Neurofilament-Derived Peptide NFL-TBS.40-63 Targets Neural Stem Cells and Affects Their Properties

“…Endogenous migration of NSCs to the glioma was also demonstrated [15]. A recent review of clinical trials reported the use of NSCs as a possible treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, stroke, and spinal cord injury [16]. Therefore, the capacity to target and manipulate endogenous NSCs represents a promising avenue for regenerative-based therapies to increase their mobilization, stimulate neurogenesis, and avoid the occurrence of side effects [17].…”

Stem Cell-Based Therapies for Cancer

“…NSCs, also referred to as neural precursor cells, are a heterogeneous population of mitotically active, self-renewing, and multipotent cells of both the developing and the adult CNS, and show complex patterns of gene expression that vary in space and time (Martino & Pluchino, 2006). NSCs have proven to be an invaluable source for developing cell-based therapies especially for neurodegenerative disorders and also for other conditions that are specific for certain cancer types (Kim, 2004;Kim, Lee, & Kim, 2013;Martino & Pluchino, 2006;Nam et al, 2015;Shah, 2009;Yip & Shah, 2008). iPSCs have recently emerged as popular and effective stem cell types for therapy.…”

“…Various stem cell types have been extensively studied for use as drug delivery vehicles or for gene therapy, and adult stem cells have been by far the cells of choice in numerous clinical studies being carried out globally (de Lazaro, Yilmazer, & Kostarelos, 2014;Nam, Lee, Nam, & Joo, 2015;Savla, Nelson, Perry, & Adler, 2014).…”

Neural stem cell niches in the adult mammalian brain

“…The presence of neural genesis in the brain of adults was confirmed in 1998, when Fred Gage and Swedish neurobiologist Peter Eriksson first demonstrated the formation of new neurons in the human hippocampus [14]. Today there is no doubt about the existence of permanent neurogenesis in some areas of the brain of adult mammals, which is provided by a pool of neural stem cells (NSCs) [7,8,32,38,49].…”