Tayloring cell populations for neurodegenerative diseases.

Abstract

Neurological disorders are increasing in prevalence worldwide, and interest in stem cell therapies for these afflictions has increased over the past two decades. While many neurological injuries are too devastating for the repair capabilities of endogenous neural stem cells (NSCs) an alternative is to harvest stem cells from a donor and grow them in vitro, to be used later as a donor source for transplantation. Many research groups have already done this, first using animal models and now using clinical trial participants. Despite the regular flow of publications about cell replacement therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, there is still a scarcity of clinically-relevant reports of efficacy. The capability of donor cells to undergo ample site-directed differentiation and functional integration seems to be lacking (Andressen, 2013). So, while stem cells do have properties that are suited for repair of the injured CNS, a primary remaining question is how these cells can best be grafted to produce long-term functional benefit to the host environment. Moreover, among the challenges in neural cell transplantation is controlling the ultimate characteristics of grafted cells, pertaining to their survival, phenotypes and performance.