Current Challenges In Cell Therapy For Neurodegenerative Diseases

Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy in Neurodegenerative Disease, Volume 166 in the International Review of Neurobiology series, highlights new advances in the field with this new volume presenting interesting chapters written by an international board of authors who cover Challenges in translating a cell therapy to GMP, The challenges in developing a cell therapy for Huntington’s disease, Challenges of cell therapies for retinal diseases, Challenges of gene therapy in Huntington’s Disease, Technological advances and barriers to gene therapy, Considerations in the development of cell therapy modulation for spinal cord injury treatment, Challenges of developing glial cell therapy for ALS, and more. Other chapters in this comprehensive release include Exploring cell and gene therapy in current animal models of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, Considerations for the use of biomaterials to support cell therapy in degenerative disease, Neurosurgical challenges/innovations in cell and gene therapy delivery, Neuroimaging: the challenge of harnessing imaging tools to facilitate cell and gene therapy in neurodegenerative diseases/The contribution and challenges for imaging in advanced therapies of movement disorders, Considerations for clinical trial design for novel advanced therapeutics in neurodegenerative disease, and More than a trial participant: The role of the patient in ATMP development and trials for neurodegenerative disease. Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors Presents the latest release in International Review on Neurobiology serials Updated release includes the latest information on Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy in Neurodegenerative Disease

This book reviews the state-of-the-art in stem-cell-based therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, and highlights advances in both animal models and clinical trials. It comprehensively discusses most neurodegenerative diseases, including such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington’s diseases, amyotrophic sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and retinal degeneration, in which stem cells could potentially be used for therapy in the future. It also addresses the challenges and problems relating to the translation of stem-cell-based therapies into treatments. As such, the book will appeal to research scientists, physicians, graduate students, and medical professionals in the field of stem cells, neuroscience, neurology, neurorestoratology and major neurological disorders.

The therapeutic options for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative and traumatic diseases such as spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, etc. have experienced enormous progress over recent years. Despite these encouraging developments, available therapies are only partially effective, and the ultimate goal is still far from being attained. Improved understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration and demyelination has led to a variety of new therapeutic targets and approaches. In addition to modulation of the inflammatory process (MS) and classical neuroprotection (stroke, AD), therapeutic approaches focusing on active remyelinization and neuronal regeneration have become increasingly important. Based on current concepts, this book summarizes new therapeutic approaches.

This volume provides a comprehensive, state-of-the art review of the field of cell therapy. The volume begins with an overview of the breadth of the field and then turns to overviews of imaging technologies that can aid in both safety and efficacy evaluations. The book then turns to numerous contributions detailing the rapidly growing field of stem cell therapies. These sections cover our understanding of the natural roles of stem cells in biology and human disease and then touches on several of the more prominent areas where stem cells are moving rapidly into clinical evaluation including neurodegenerative diseases, muscular dystrophy, cardiac repair, and diabetes. The volume concludes with contributions from experts in oncology, ophthalmology, stem cells, 3-D printing, and biomaterials where the convergence of expertise is leading to unprecedented insights into how to minutely control the in vivo fate and function of transplanted and/or endogeneously mobilized cells. Finally, the book provides insights into the pivotal relationship between academic and industrial partnerships. This volume is designed to touch on the major areas where the field will make its greatest and most immediate clinical impacts. This text will provide a useful resource for physicians and researchers interested in the rapidly changing filed of cell therapy.

A scientist assesses the potential of stem cell therapies for treating such brain disorders as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Stem cell therapies are the subject of enormous hype, endowed by the media with almost magical qualities and imagined by the public to bring about miracle cures. Stem cells have the potential to generate new cells of different types, and have been shown to do so in certain cases. Could stem cell transplants repair the damaged brain? In this book, neurobiologist Jack Price assesses the potential of stem cell therapies to treat such brain disorders as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injuries. Certainly brain disorders are in need of effective treatments. These disorders don't just kill, they disable, and conventional drug therapies have not had much success in treating them. Price explains that repairing the human brain is difficult, largely because of its structural, functional, and developmental complexity. He examines the self-repairing capacity of blood and gut cells—and the lack of such capacity in the brain; describes the limitations of early brain stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative disorders; and discusses current clinical trials that may lead to the first licensed stem cell therapies for stroke, Parkinson's and macular degeneration. And he describes the real promise of pluripotential stem cells, which can make all the cell types that constitute the body. New technologies, Price reports, challenge the very notion of cell transplantation, instead seeking to convince the brain itself to manufacture the new cells it needs. Could this be the true future of brain repair?

As our world continues to evolve, the field of regenerative medicine f- lows suit. Although many modern day therapies focus on synthetic and na- ral medicinal treatments for brain repair, many of these treatments and prescriptions lack adequate results or only have the ability to slow the p- gression of neurological disease or injury. Cell therapy, however, remains the most compelling treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, disorders, and injuries, including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and stroke, which is expanded upon in more detail in Chapter 1 by Snyder and colleagues. Cell therapy is also unique in that it is the only therapeutic strategy that strives to replace lost, damaged, or dysfunctional cells with healthy ones. This repair and replacement may be due to an administration of exogenous cells itself or the activation of the body’s own endogenous reparative cells by a trophic, immune, or inflammatory response to cell transplantation. However, the precise mechanism of how cell therapy works remains elusive and is c- tinuing to be investigated in terms of molecular and cellular responses, in particular. Moreover, Chapter 11 by Emerich and associates, discusses some of the possibilities of cell immunoisolation and the potential for treating central nervous system diseases.

This book explores the potential of stem cells for ameliorating the quality of life of patients with neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. It discusses results of pre-clinical investigations and case studies on the effects of stem cell transplantation on cell death, as well as to promote/stimulate neuroprotection after brain and spinal cord injury through trophic support, cell replacement and remyelination. The book covers the maintenance of the balance between stem cells and their progenitors within their niche, both under normal and degenerative processes and with ischemic stroke, multiple sclerosis, and brain tumor.

While most stem cell books focus on basic aspects and/or cell therapy, this book emphasizes the relevance of stem cells obtained from patients, the so-called “patients in a petri dish” as tools to investigate human genetic diseases for which there are no available effective treatment. Chapters embrace several examples of the use of iPS cell technology, a recent Nobel Prize-winning scientific breakthrough, to obtain patient-specific pluripotent cells from which many types of specialized cells involved in a particular disease can be generated, including psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, muscular dystrophies, laminopathies, among others. The text is a current and timely resource for postgraduate students, scientists and clinicians, interested in applications of this rapidly developing field of research in disease modeling, drug development, and emerging issues that it brings to regenerative medicine.