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Potential of neural stem cell‐based therapies for A lzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
Li XueYuan,
Bao XinJie,
Wang RenZhi
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.23555
Subject(s) - neural stem cell , disease , stem cell , neural cell , cell , neuroscience , medicine , psychology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
Alzheimer's disease (AD), known to be a leading cause of dementia that causes heavy social and financial burdens worldwide, is characterized by progressive loss of neurons and synaptic connectivity after depositions of amyloid‐β (Aβ) protein. Current therapies for AD patients can only alleviate symptoms but cannot deter the neural degeneration, thus providing no long‐term recovery. Neural stem cells (NSCs), capable of self‐renewal and of differentiation into functional neurons and glia, have been shown to repair damaged networks and reverse memory and learning deficits in animal studies, providing new hope for curing AD patients by cell transplantation. Under AD pathology, the microenvironment also undergoes great alterations that affect the propagation of NSCs and subsequent therapeutic efficiency, calling for measures to improve the hostile environment for cell transplantation. This article reviews the therapeutic potential of both endogenous and exogenous NSCs in the treatment of AD and the challenges to application of stem cells in AD treatment, particularly those from the microenvironmental alterations, in the hope of providing more information for future research in exploiting stem cell‐based therapies for AD. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.