Written by: Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Pengyuyan
Expert review: Professor Li Jing, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Professor
September 21 is International Dementia Day , also known as World Alzheimer's Day , World Alzheimer's Day . According to incomplete statistics, among the elderly over 85 years old in my country, one-third suffer from Alzheimer's disease .
As we all know, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is caused by progressive degeneration of the brain, which leads to changes such as memory loss in and cognitive function damage. The disease has brought unprecedented challenges to human medicine, and many clinical experts and researchers have wanted to seek an effective and accurate way to treat the disease. Currently, the therapeutic effect of common drugs for Alzheimer's disease is mainly focused on maintaining degenerated neuronal function and cannot truly cure the disease.
For neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, regenerative medicine with stem cell as the core has brought new hope for treatment. Previously, an article published in the journal Neural Regen Res elaborated on the idea that stem cell therapy provides a potential opportunity to "cure" neurodegenerative diseases.
doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.23.009
On the occasion of World Alzheimer's Day, this article explains it from the perspectives of stem cells in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and clinical progress, helping everyone understand the forefront of clinical treatment of this disease.
The person who untie the bell must also be tied. The regeneration of "stem cell" neurons has become a hope for treating Alzheimer's disease
For the fundamental treatment method for this type of neuron degenerative disease, it is necessary to start from neurons, whether to find a way to make up for the reduction of the number of neurons in the patient's brain, so as to ultimately achieve the purpose of alleviating or even blocking the development of the disease. As early as 1998, humans turned their attention to "stem cells" for the first time. Since then, stem cells have been responsible for the mission of treating Alzheimer's disease. More and more scientific researchers are using stem cells to study the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
stem cells are a type of cells with great potential. They have the ability to renew themselves and multi-directional differentiation ability, and can differentiate into various brain cells such as neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. It is precisely based on this opportunity that stem cells have brought new hope to the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
large-scale stem cell clinical trials are underway
At present, a large number of clinical trials on stem cells for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease have been carried out around the world. As of September 2022, there have been 34 studies on stem cells for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in the largest clinical trial registration library of the National Institutes of Health .
What is even more exciting is that as early as 2018, AstroStem, a stem cell drug for Alzheimer's disease, was first used in Sany Clinic in Fukuoka, Japan.
In my country, stem cells are also attracting much attention for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. In August 2021, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission issued the "2022 Application Guidelines for the Special Scientific Research Project on Capital Health Development" proposed that relevant research on stem cell therapy should be encouraged for eight types of diseases, and the municipal financial special funding will be provided, including neurodegenerative diseases.
my country has published many clinical research results on stem cell treatment of Alzheimer's
my country has also carried out many clinical research on stem cell treatment of Alzheimer's disease and published literature. The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University was treated with infusion of mesenchymal stem cells in 12 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The results of showed that its total effective efficiency was as high as 100%. Among them, 10 patients had significant efficacy, and 2 patients were treated with [1].
In addition, according to published literature, the Stem Cell Treatment Center of Jinan Great Wall Hospital jointly conducted autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation treatment for 10 patients with Alzheimer's disease.After treatment, patients treated with stem cell showed better performance in average simple intelligent testing, and their memory, cognitive function and daily life activity ability were significantly improved [2].
Figure 1 Stem cell injection route (picture originated from [2])
Not only that, stem cell infusion treatment is safe and feasible. The results of a clinical trial of "stereo-directed intracerebral injection of human mesenchymal stem cells to treat AD patients" showed that within the 24-month follow-up period after the end of treatment, the patients did not experience serious adverse reactions related to stem cell therapy [3].
Figure 2 Stereodirectional injection (picture originated from [3])
Figure 3 Amyloid load, glucose metabolism and CFS biomarker levels (picture originated from [3])
stem cells exert therapeutic effects through multiple pathways
So what pathways do stem cells play therapeutic roles? After multiple studies, stem cells mainly exert efficacy through the following three pathways:
(1) directly differentiate into neurons, replacing damaged nerve cells, and reconstructing neural pathway ;
(2) secrete neurotrophic factor , nutrition and protection of cholinergic neurons , further promoting endogenous neuron regeneration;
(3) paracrine immunomodulatory factor inhibits inflammatory response, reduces the release of inflammatory factors, and reduces β-amyloid .
It can be seen that both at home and abroad are vigorously carrying out clinical research on stem cells for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Whether it is to expand the sample size, develop new infusion methods and explore more appropriate doses, the methods of stem cells for treating Alzheimer's disease are constantly becoming more perfect. Experts predict that stem cell therapy will be expected to become an effective method for treating Alzheimer's disease within 5 to 10 years, and it has important social and economic benefits, and will benefit the majority of patients.
Reference
[1]https://kns.cnki.net/kns8/defaultresult/index
[2]Li Yizhao, Wang Qingde, Zhu Shiwen, Cui Guixiang, Xie Keqin, Shi Qing, Hou Huaishui, Shen Bojun. 4 cases of Alzheimer's disease in the treatment of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation [J]. China Tissue Engineering Research and Clinical Rehabilitation, 2008(43 ):8431-8433.https://kns.cnki.net/KNS8/manage/export.html?displaymode=NEW&filename=cjfd2008!XDKF200843011!1!0.
[3]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5975048/#appsec1.
