scholarly journals Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Potential Therapeutic Approach for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnese Gugliandolo ◽  
Placido Bramanti ◽  
Emanuela Mazzon

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons. Patients show both motor and extra-motor symptoms. A cure is not available at this time, and the disease leads to death within 3–5 years, mainly due to respiratory failure. Stem cell therapy is arising as a new promising approach for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) seem the most suitable type of stem cells, thanks to their demonstrated beneficial effects in different experimental models, to the easy availability, and to the lack of ethical problems. In this review, we focused on the studies involving ALS rodent models and clinical trials in order to understand the potential beneficial effects of MSC transplantation. In different ALS rodent models, the administration of MSCs induced a delay in disease progression and at least a partial recovery of the motor function. In addition, clinical trials evidenced the feasibility and safety of MSC transplantation in ALS patients, given that no major adverse events were recorded. However, only partial improvements were shown. For this reason, more studies and trials are needed to clarify the real effectiveness of MSC-based therapy in ALS.

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 725-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bor Luen Tang

AbstractRecent clinical trials of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation have demonstrated procedural safety and clinical proof of principle with a modest indication of benefit in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While replacement therapy remained unrealistic, the clinical efficacy of this therapeutic option could be potentially enhanced if we could better decipher the mechanisms underlying some of the beneficial effects of transplanted cells, and work toward augmenting or combining these in a strategic manner. Novel ways whereby MSCs could act in modifying disease progression should also be explored. In this review, I discuss the known, emerging and postulated mechanisms of action underlying effects that transplanted MSCs may exert to promote motor neuron survival and/or to encourage regeneration in ALS. I shall also speculate on how transplanted cells may alter the diseased environment so as to minimize non-neuron cell autonomous damages by immune cells and astrocytes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirotoshi Magota ◽  
Masanori Sasaki ◽  
Yuko Kataoka-Sasaki ◽  
Shinichi Oka ◽  
Ryo Ukai ◽  
...  

AbstractAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative fatal disorder in which motor neurons within the brain and spinal cord degenerate. A single infusion of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) delays disease progression by protecting motor neurons and restoring the blood-spinal cord barrier in the SOD1G93A transgenic ALS rat model. However, the therapeutic effect of a single infusion of MSCs is transient and does not block disease progression. In this study, we demonstrated that repeated administration of MSCs (weekly, four times) increased the survival period, protected motor functions, and reduced deterioration of locomotor activity compared to a single infusion and vehicle infusion, after which rats displayed progressive deterioration of hind limb function. We also compared the days until gait ability was lost in rats and found that the repeated-infused group maintained gait ability compared to the single-infusion and vehicle-infusion groups. These results suggest that repeated administration of MSCs may prevent the deterioration of motor function and extend the lifespan in ALS.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamtaj Alam ◽  
Rajeshwar Kumar Yadav ◽  
Elizabeth Minj ◽  
Aarti Tiwari ◽  
Sidharth Mehan

: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal motor neuron disease (MND) characterised by the death of upper and lower motor neurons (corticospinal tract) in the motor cortex, basal ganglia, brain stem, and spinal cord. The patient experiences the sign and symptoms between 55 to 75 years of age included impaired motor movement, difficulty in speaking and swallowing, grip loss, muscle atrophy, spasticity and sometimes associated with memory and cognitive impairments. Median survival is 3 to 5 years after diagnosis and 5 to 10% beyond 10 years of age. The limited intervention of pharmacologically active compounds that are used clinically is majorly associated with the narrow therapeutic index. Pre-clinically established experimental models where neurotoxin methyl mercury mimics the ALS like behavioural and neurochemical alterations in rodents associated with neuronal mitochondrial dysfunctions and downregulation of adenyl cyclase mediated cAMP/CREB is the main pathological hallmark for the progression of ALS in central as well in the peripheral nervous system. Despite the considerable investigation into neuroprotection, it still constrains treatment choices to strong care and organization of ALS complications. Therefore, current review specially targeted in the investigation of clinical and pre-clinical features available for ALS to understand the pathogenic mechanisms and to explore the pharmacological interventions associated with up-regulation of intracellular adenyl cyclase/cAMP/CREB and mitochondrial-ETC coenzyme-Q10 activation as a future drug target in the amelioration of ALS mediated motor neuronal dysfunctions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1757 ◽  
pp. 147296
Author(s):  
Hirotoshi Magota ◽  
Masanori Sasaki ◽  
Yuko Kataoka-Sasaki ◽  
Shinichi Oka ◽  
Ryo Ukai ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-39
Author(s):  
Bernd Giebel ◽  
Verena Börger ◽  
Mario Gimona ◽  
Eva Rohde

Human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) represent a promising tool in regenerative medicine. Until now, almost one thousand NIH-registered clinical trials investigated their immunomodulatory and pro-regenerative therapeutic potential in various diseases. Despite controversial reports regarding the efficacy of MSC-treatments, MSCs appear to exert their beneficial effects in a paracrine manner rather than by cell replacement. In this context, extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes and microvesicles, seem to induce the MSCs’ therapeutic effects. Here, we briefly illustrate the potential of MSC-EVs as therapeutic agent of the future.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahsa Hajivalili ◽  
Fatemeh Pourgholi ◽  
Hossein Samadi Kafil ◽  
Farhad Jadidi-Niaragh ◽  
Mehdi Yousefi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mhoriam Ahmed ◽  
Charlotte Spicer ◽  
Jasmine Harley ◽  
Nikolaj Petersen ◽  
Paul Taylor ◽  
...  

Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are now widely considered to be part of a disease spectrum with the identification of common pathological features and genetic causes. However, despite these advances, there remains no effective therapy for these conditions. In this study we demonstrate that mice expressing mutant valosin containing protein (VCP) develop an ALS/FTD-like phenotype in the spinal cord and brain, and treatment with arimoclomol, a pharmacological amplifier of the cytoprotective heat shock response ameliorates this phenotype. Moreover, the beneficial effects of arimoclomol are seen in both fibroblasts and iPSC-derived motor neurons from patients. Importantly, we show the pathological changes targeted by arimoclomol in our experimental models are present in post-mortem FTD patient tissue. Together with previous data demonstrating the efficacy of arimoclomol in SOD1-ALS models, our findings suggest that arimoclomol may have therapeutic potential not only in non-SOD1 ALS but also for the treatment of FTD.


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