Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: applications of stem cells – an update

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases are a growing public health challenge, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains a fatal incurable disease. The advent of stem cell therapy has opened new horizons for both researchers and ALS patients, desperately looking for a treatment. ALS must be considered a systemic disease affecting many cell phenotypes besides motor neurons, even outside the central nervous system. Cell replacement therapy needs to address the specific neurobiological issues of ALS to safely and efficiently reach clinical settings. Moreover, the enormous potential of induced pluripotent cells directly derived from patients for modeling and understanding the pathological mechanisms, in correlation with the discoveries of new genes and animal models, provides new opportunities that need to be integrated with previously described transplantation strategies. Finally, a careful evaluation of preclinical data in conjunction with wary patient choice in clinical trials needs to be established in order to generate meaningful results.

Longitudinal Tracking of Human Fetal Cells Labeled with Super Paramagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in the Brain of Mice with Motor Neuron Disease

“…The evidence that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) also involves areas apart from the motor system supports the idea of a multisystemic disease, affecting multiple cell types, which requires therapeutic treatments able to provide an healthy environment for degenerating motor neurons and also capable of enhancing endogenous repair [1]. The potential of Stem Cell (SC) therapy has been widely demonstrated in different pre-clinical models of ALS [2] with a significant delay in neurological progression deriving more from the ability of SCs to produce and release several neuroprotective factors (bystander effect) than a direct replacement of degenerating neurons [3], [4].…”

“…The potential of Stem Cell (SC) therapy has been widely demonstrated in different pre-clinical models of ALS [2] with a significant delay in neurological progression deriving more from the ability of SCs to produce and release several neuroprotective factors (bystander effect) than a direct replacement of degenerating neurons [3] , [4] . Nevertheless, no conclusive data on the optimal SC source or delivery route are currently available either in animal models [5] or in patients [1] .…”

Quantum Biology Research Meets Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Mechanisms: A Biomedical Perspective

“…Stem cells have been used as possible therapy to replace and regenerate injured cells thus recovering, at least in part, organ functions [75][76][77][78][79][80]. The Nobel Prize winning discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represented a turning point in the field of stem cells [81], since iPSCs are obtained by reprogramming any adult somatic cells [82], which possess almost the same pluripotency property as embryonic stem cells.…”

“…Moreover, residual undifferentiated stem cells may form tumors and proliferate [90]. Finally, very often, there is a low efficiency or incomplete reprogramming of transplanted stem cells [79], despite progress being made [82,91].…”

NMR Metabolomics for Stem Cell type discrimination

“…Their organized proliferation and cell fate determination allow the formation of both tissues and organs during embryonic development, whereas their permanence in restricted niches consents tissue repair and maintenance in adulthood 1 . Therefore, SCs are currently used in several biomedical applications, especially to replace or repair pathological tissues in regenerative medicine, as well demonstrated for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 2 . Stem cell cultures appear as a heterogeneous mixture of functional subpopulations, characterized by distinct self-renewal and differentiation biases, able to generate a progressively restricted repertoire of cell types (progenitor cells) 3 .…”