Stem Cell Based Therapy For Neurodegenerative 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.

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 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.

Current pharmacotherapies and surgical intervention provide limited benefit in the treatment of neural injuries or halting disease progression and has resulted in significant hope for the successes of stem cell research. The properties of stem cells render them appropriate for cell replacement therapy, endogenous repair, disease modeling as well as high-throughput drug screening and development. Such applications will aide in increasing our knowledge and developing treatments for neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s diseases as well as neural traumas including ischemic brain damage and traumatic brain injury. This Frontiers Research topic encouraged contributions from the general field of stem cell biology, with a particular emphasis on utilizing these cells to develop new therapies for neural repair. Related articles deal with issues such as: breakthroughs in stem cell proliferation/differentiation methodologies, using pluripotent and neural stem cells for transplantation and endogenous repair, the use of patient derived stem cells for disease modeling, using stem cells for drug discovery as well as the ethical issues related to the use of stem cells.

This book represents the third in a series of International Conferences related to Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) diseases. The first one took place in Eilat, Israel, in 1985; and the second one in Kyoto, Japan, in 1989. This book contains the full text of oral and poster presentations from the Third International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases: Recent Developments, held in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. on November 1-6, 1993. The Chicago Conference was attended by 270 participants. The Scientific Program was divided into nine oral sessions, a keynote presentation, and a poster session. The conference culminated in a Round Table Discussion involving all of the participants in the conference. The four and one-half day meeting served as an excellent medium for surveying the current status of clinical and preclinical developments in AD and PD. There were 59 oral presentations and 93 posters. This book incorporates a majority of both.

This volume provides insight into the pivotal roles of stem cells, exosomes and other microvesicles in biofunction and molecular mechanisms and their therapeutic potential in translational nanomedicine. It further highlights evidence from recent studies as to how stem cell derived exosomes and microRNAs may restore and maintain tissue homeostasis, enable cells to recover critical cellular functions and begin repair regeneration. These early studies in animal models of aging also show evidence of improved immune, cardiovascular and cognitive functions as well as improved health span and life span. The use of exosomes from body fluids to define specific biomarkers for various tumors may also clear the path to patient-targeted treatments by developing exosome-derived microRNA based cancer therapeutics. It is essential reading for graduate students, research fellow and biomedical researchers in academia or the pharmaceutical or biotech industries.

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