Clinical profiles and outcomes of patients with neurological diseases treated with stem cell therapy: a single-center experience in the Philippines

Abstract

Background & Aim Background Neurologic disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and spinal cord injury are caused by a either neural cell loss or neurologic cell injury processes. Management of these disorders would therefore be expected to replace the lost cells, clear the pathological hallmarks or repair cell function. Stem cells offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues as a form of innovative treatment in regenerative medicine. Objective This study aims to evaluate the clinical profile and outcomes of cellular therapy given to all patients with neurologic disorders enrolled in the Institute of Personalized Molecular Medicine, center of regenerative medicine in a tertiary hospital in the Philippines. This study aims to provide information with regards to the paucity of local data in stem cell therapy in the country. Methods, Results & Conclusion Methods This is a 10 year-retrospective descriptive study of the medical records of patients who completed 6 cycles of mesenchymal stem cells and neural stem cells infusion. Clinical profiles were evaluated and outcome in terms of functional status, subjective effects, and quality of life after the cellular therapy. Results Among the 48 cases enrolled, only 29 have completed and were included in the study. Majority of the patients have neurodegenerative disease like Parkinson's disease, second is from acute spinal cord injury, and least with brain tumor. Other diseases enrolled are stroke, encephalopathy, dementia, multiple sclerosis and motor neuron disease. Most patients have an average age of 60-70 years old. Majority are male. Clinical outcomes show that functional status of pre and post treatment has no significant difference, however there are subjective reports of multiple improvements among the disease categories on post-treatment. No significant adverse effects noted. Conclusion Most common patients catered are those with neurodegenerative diseases among the aging population. Although this study reports no significant change in the functional status, improvements of the neurologic symptoms as reported by the patients may somehow alleviate the disease burden and impact the quality of life in patients with neurological diseases. Local awareness and more experiences regarding the use of this therapeutic option may help in the utilization of this form of therapy in the future. This therapy enables clinical application of translational research, give more hope than hype.