Stem Cell Treatment for Neurological Diseases - Stem Cell Therapy

Stem Cells Treatment for Neurological Diseases Abroad

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Before a half century, regeneration of neurons has been admitted as an impossible event. Thus, neurodegenerative disorders (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis), vascular events (e.g. stroke) and traumatic diseases (e.g. spinal cord injury) have been admitted as incurable diseases. Afterward, tissue reparative and regenerative potential of stem cell researches for these disorders drew attention of the scientist to replacement therapy.

Now, there are hundreds of current experimental and clinical regenerative treatment studies. One of the most popular treatment methods is cell transplantation. For this purpose many types of stem cells such as mononuclear stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and olfactory ensheathing cells can be used. As a result, cell transplantation has become a promising therapeutic option for these neurologic disorders.

What are neurological disorders?

The brain, spinal cord, and nerves make up the nervous system. Together they control all the workings of the body. When something goes wrong with a part of your nervous system, you can have trouble moving, speaking, swallowing, breathing, or learning. You can also have problems with your memory, senses, or mood.

There are more than 600 neurologic diseases. Major types include:

• Diseases caused by faulty genes, such as Huntington's disease and muscular dystrophy
• Problems with the way the nervous system develops, such as spina bifida
• Degenerative diseases, where nerve cells are damaged or die, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease
• Diseases of the blood vessels that supply the brain, such as stroke
• Injuries to the spinal cord and brain
• Seizure disorders, such as epilepsy
• Cancer, such as brain tumors
• Infections, such as meningitis

What types of stem cell are used in regenerative medicine?

• Stem cells may be the person’s own cells (a procedure called autologous transplantation) or those of a donor (a procedure called allogenic transplantation).
• The sources of stem cells are varied such as pre-implantation embryos, children, adults, aborted fetuses, embryos, umbilical cord, menstrual blood, amniotic fluid and placenta

Effective results in treating several neurological disorders

Neurological diseases are caused by a loss of neurons and glial cells in the central nervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system. Effective treatment of these neurological diseases is currently impossible. Stem cell therapy is a promising treatment option for these neurological diseases.

How does regenerative medicine work in treating neurological diseases?

• The stem cell-based therapy may be effectively applied as early as during acute period after severe brain injury when a patient is unconscious.  
• The therapy wakens patient’s consciousness, reduces risk of a lethal outcome, and promotes his following neurological rehabilitation.
• The long-term neurological defects owing to a traumatic brain injury may be markedly ameliorated by the stem cell-based therapy.  
• The significant benefits from this treatment were noted in patients with long-term consequences of hemorrhagic or ischemic cerebral strokes.
• The primary targets for acting the grafted cells may be the most ancient stem structures of the brain.
• Activation of those structures probably provides “ awakening ” cerebral brain cortex in comatose patients.
• The lasting regress of focal symptoms in cell-grafted patients may be evidence of developing new stable neural communications.
• Is sure to open new opportunities to treat effectively severe neurological disorders of different genesis.
• It should be particularly emphasized that such therapy is able to ameliorate neurological defects and improve a quality of life in those cases when all other medical interventions are powerless.

Spinal cord injury

Traumatic spinal cord injuries are one of the challenging problems all around the world. Spinal cord is the main circuit, which transfers motor and sensorial signals between brain and body. After major spinal cord injury, ascending and descending neural systems lost their integrity with motor and sensorial structures in spinal cord and paralysis and anesthesia occur under lesion site. With this type central nervous system injury, serious cell losses in tissues occur, significant myelin loss is seen and it becomes almost impossible to repair neural connections. In recent years, transplanting cells like Schwann cells, olfactory glial cells, embryologic or adult stem cells have become popular and all this methods are named as cell therapy.

Stroke

Stroke is the most important cause of adult disability in developed and developing countries . With the increase in the elderly population, the incidence and prevalence is increasing with each passing day. Central nervous system contains more than 100 billion cells. All kinds of cells found in the brain may be affected in stroke and also their connections may be. Until recently, it was considered that there can be no regeneration in the brain of adults.As a result of the highly developed ability of stem cells to transform into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, their usage is promising. The aim is starting of the repair process by stimulating the repair function.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; associated with the common upper and lower motor neuron degeneration, generally resulting in death due to respiratory failure an average of three years after the beginning of symptoms. Stem cell therapy is one of the treatment methods in order to stop the progression of the disease and if possible return loss of function. It is not a realistic expectation that stem cells integrate to neural network by replacing lost motor neurons. The hope is the halting of motor neuronal death.

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS); It is an autoimmune central nervous system disease characterized with inflammation, demyelinization and axone injury. In MS pathogenesis; the existence of abnormal immune response against the myelin antigens in CNS is considered. The stem cell applications in the form of transplantations mainly focus on the oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPG). In this approach, the goal is to let the transplanted cells to acquire the capability of forming new myelin, replace the damaged myelin and overtake the functions of healthy myelin and in this way prevent axone destruction.

Other neurological diseases

Congenital metabolic diseases are a vast diagnosis group, which constitutes genetic diseases including metabolism disorders. It is a vast group including carbohydrate metabolism disorders, amino acid metabolism disorders, organic acid metabolism disorders, fatty acid oxidation and mitochondrial metabolism disorders, porphyrine metabolism disorders, purine or pyrimidine metabolism disorders, steroid metabolism disorders, mitochondrial malfunction, peroxisomal malfunction, lysosomal storage disorder. Most of them stem from the single gene mistakes encoding the enzymes, which facilitate a substance's conversion into another substance. In most disorders, the troubles are caused by the accumulation of toxic substances or the substance's reduced functions for the normal procedure due to inability of synthesizing. Congenital metabolic diseases are progressive and fatal, so they do not have a distinct and efficient treatment. The strategy of the treatment is to put back the enzymes that have to be in the central neural system.

General Advantages of Adult Stem Cell Therapy

1. A Second Chance: Patients are given another chance at life when the options available through conventional means are exhausted or fail to result
2. Natural: Regenerative solutions replace damaged cells and tissue by making the most of the body’s natural regenerative potential
3. Safe and Effective: Because the Adult Stem Cells are derived directly from the patient’s own body, there is virtually no possibility for rejection
4. Positive Side Effects: Stem cells also behave like beacons that alert the body to send its own regenerative resources to the site and reactivate the healing process
5. Proven Results: Clinical results thus far have proven positive. Remarkably, no patient has responded negatively to the cells
6. The Earlier a Patient is Treated, the Better the Success Rate: Receiving treatment now will offer a greater result than later.

It is quite difficult to treat and cure of neurological diseases because of limited neuron regeneration. Unfortunately, current treatments cannot provide effective solutions to regenerate neurons, at the same time cannot prevent loss of neurons. So, neural stem cell therapies have caused quite a stir with hope to treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. Todays, selection, generation and transplantation of stem cell, all of these major challenges but in the very near future we can say hopefully that stem cell therapies can be applied effectively.

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