Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Potentials, Advances and Limitations

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases are progressive and uncontrolled gradual loss of motor neurons function or death of neuron cells in the central nervous system (CNS) and the mechanisms underlying their progressive nature remain elusive. There is urgent need to investigate therapeutic strategies and novel treatments for neural regeneration in disorders like Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and multiple sclerosis (MS). Currently, the development and identification of pluripotent stem cells enabling the acquisition of a large number of neural cells in order to improve cell recovery after neurodegenerative disorders. Pluripotent stem cells which consist of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are characterized by their ability to indefinitely self-renew and the capacity to differentiate into different types of cells. The first human ESC lines were established from donated human embryos; while, because of a limited supply of donor embryos, human ESCs derivation remains ethically and politically controversial. Hence, hiPSCs-based therapies have been shown as an effective replacement for human ESCs without embryo destruction. Compared to the invasive methods for derivation of human ESCs, human iPSCs has opened possible to reprogram patient-specific cells by defined factors and with minimally invasive procedures. Human pluripotent stem cells are a good source for cell-based research, cell replacement therapies and disease modeling. To date, hundreds of human ESC and human iPSC lines have been generated with the aim of treating various neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we have highlighted the recent potentials, advances, and limitations of human pluripotent stem cells for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

Differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells into erythroid cells

“…Ex vivo cultured RBCs can also be obtained from immortalized erythroid precursors and pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) [13,14]. Human PSCs including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have the potential to proliferate indefinitely in culture and give rise to lineages of ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm [15][16][17]. Therefore, much attention has focused on human PSCs to replace current transfusion banking [18,19].…”

Neurothreads: Cryogel carrier-based differentiation and delivery of mature neurons in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease

“…Currently, more ethical and practical cell replacement approaches are being pursued, with the aim to ease localization of immunematching cell sources and to simplify and standardize graft preparation 6 . Numerous preclinical [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and emerging clinical 9,14,15 stem cell studies are investigating intrastriatal transplantation of neural precursor cells (NPCs), derived from autologous or amplifiable human sources such as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) [7][8][9] , induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) 7,9,10 , parthenogenetic stem cells 15,16 or direct reprogramming of autologous somatic cells [11][12][13] .…”

Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering

“…Stem cells and progenitor cells, as well as differentiated cells such as adult neurons, Schwann cells and astrocytes, have been used to treat many different pathologies of the central and peripheral nervous system, including various neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), ischemic stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis (MS) [ 382 , 383 , 384 , 385 ].…”