Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation For Neurological Diseases

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.

Intense immunosuppression followed by Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Neurological Diseases (HSCT) has been evaluated as a possible therapeutic tool in severe autoimmune diseases for the last 20 years. In the neurological field, HSCT has been widely investigated for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and evidence is accumulating about its potential use in neuromyelitis optica, stiff person syndrome, myasthenia gravis and many immune neuropathies. This volume summarizes that research. Besides their strong clinical relevance, studies on HSCT in neurological diseases have contributed to mew insights on the pathological mechanisms underlying CNS autoimmunity. Reviews immunological mechanisms of HSCT and CNS autoimmunity Identifies neurological diseases showing treatment efficacy with HSCT Includes MS, myasthenia gravis, neuromyelitis optica, and more Covers early and late side effects of HSCT

"This book summarizes the progress made across the international medical and scientific research communities towards the goal of converting a chronic autoimmune disease into a drug-free reversible illness using hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and other cellular therapies to generate sustained immune tolerance"--

This book is a comprehensive guide on neural stem cell behavior in health and disease. The book confers the altered behavior of endogenous neural stem cells in neurodegenerative disease conditions and the prospects of neural stem cell therapy for alleviating brain dysfunction in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders. Neural stem cell activity and neurogenesis in the adult brain is now confirmed in virtually all mammalian species including humans. Hence, a series of chapters in the first half of the book discusses the current knowledge on mechanisms of neural stem cell activity, the extent and functional significance of neurogenesis in the adult brain under normal, aged and disease environments, the susceptibility of neural stem cells and the plasticity of neurogenesis to alcohol, drugs of abuse and anesthetic agents, and advanced techniques that trigger neurogenesis in non-neurogenic regions. A second series of chapters in this book are focused on discussing the promise and efficacy of grafting of neural stem cells and/or other stem cells for treating neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, stroke, temporal lobe epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease and spinal cord injury. The final chapter confers on advances that are made in manufacturing a variety of neural cell types from human pluripotent stem cells that can be used as donor cells for cell transplantation.

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.

This book summarizes early pioneering achievements in the field of human neural stem cell (hNSC) research and combines them with the latest advances in stem cell technology, including reprogramming and gene editing. The powerful potential of hNSC to generate and repair the developing and adult CNS has been confirmed by numerous experimental in vitro and in vivo studies. The book presents methods for hNSC derivation and discusses the mechanisms underlying NSC in vitro fate decisions and their in vivo therapeutic mode of action. The long-standing dogma that the human central nervous system (CNS) lacks the ability to regenerate was refuted at the end of the 20th century, when evidence of the presence of neurogenic zones in the adult human brain was found. These neurogenic zones are home to human neural stem cells (hNSCs), which are capable of self-renewing and differentiating into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. NSCs isolated from human CNS have a number of clinical advantages, especially the innate potential to differentiate into functional neural cells. Nevertheless, their full clinical exploitation has been hindered by limited access to the tissue and low expansion potential. The search for an alternative to CNS sources of autologous, therapeutically competent hNSCs was the driving force for the many studies proving the in vitro plasticity of different somatic stem cells to generate NSCs and their functional progeny. Now the era of induced pluripotent stem cells has opened entirely new opportunities to achieve research and therapeutic goals with the aid of hNSCs.

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.

Functional Neural Transplantation IV: Translation to Clinical Application, Volume 230 provides a survey of the current status of cell transplantation in the nervous system, with a focus on the conditions for achieving structural repair and functional recovery after brain damage or in neurodegenerative disease. As the fourth in a periodic series of updates at 5-7 year intervals, this volume highlights recent developments related to the application of advances in cellular and molecular science to an understanding of the fundamental principles of neuroplasticity and regeneration in the brain and spinal cord, also addressing the topic of the power of pluripotent stem cells to generate new sources of precisely specified neurons for utilization in brain repair. Selected chapters review the latest advances in translating the new technologies to a broader range of neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, spinal cord injury, glial and retinal disease and pain than had hitherto been considered possible, with the realization that the opportunities of off-the-shelf cell therapy may fast be approaching a plausible reality. Comprehensive set of critical reviews covering the field Presents state-of-the-art topics in science and translational medicine Written by international leaders in the field of neural transplantation