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Neural stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative disorders: The role of neurotrophic support.

ABSTRACT: Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease currently affect tens of millions of people worldwide. Unfortunately, as the world's population ages, the incidence of many of these diseases will continue to rise and is expected to more than double by 2050. Despite significant research and a growing understanding of disease pathogenesis, only a handful of therapies are currently available and all of them provide only transient benefits. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop novel disease-modifying therapies to prevent the development or slow the progression of these debilitating disorders. A growing number of pre-clinical studies have suggested that transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) could offer a promising new therapeutic approach for neurodegeneration. While much of the initial excitement about this strategy focused on the use of NSCs to replace degenerating neurons, more recent studies have implicated NSC-mediated changes in neurotrophins as a major mechanism of therapeutic efficacy. In this mini-review we will discuss recent work that examines the ability of NSCs to provide trophic support to disease-effected neuronal populations and synapses in models of neurodegeneration. We will then also discuss some of key challenges that remain before NSC-based therapies for neurodegenerative diseases can be translated toward potential clinical testing.

SUBMITTER: Marsh SE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5446923 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative disorders: The role of neurotrophic support.

Marsh Samuel E SE Blurton-Jones Mathew M

Neurochemistry international 20170220

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease currently affect tens of millions of people worldwide. Unfortunately, as the world's population ages, the incidence of many of these diseases will continue to rise and is expected to more than double by 2050. Despite significant research and a growing understanding of disease pathogenesis, only a handful of therapies are currently available and all of them provide only transient benefits. Thus, ...[more]

PMID: 28219641

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Project description:BackgroundStem/progenitor cells (SPCs) demonstrate neuro-regenerative potential that is dependent upon their humoral activity by producing various trophic factors regulating cell migration, growth, and differentiation. Herein, we compared the expression of neurotrophins (NTs) and their receptors in specific umbilical cord blood (UCB) SPC populations, including lineage-negative, CD34(+), and CD133(+) cells, with that in unsorted, nucleated cells (NCs).Methods and resultsThe expression of NTs and their receptors was detected by QRT-PCR, western blotting, and immunofluorescent staining in UCB-derived SPC populations (i.e., NCs vs. lineage-negative, CD34(+), and CD133(+) cells). To better characterize, global gene expression profiles of SPCs were determined using genome-wide RNA microarray technology. Furthermore, the intracellular production of crucial neuro-regenerative NTs (i.e., BDNF and NT-3) was assessed in NCs and lineage-negative cells after incubation for 24, 48, and 72 h in both serum and serum-free conditions. We discovered significantly higher expression of NTs and NT receptors at both the mRNA and protein level in lineage-negative, CD34(+), and CD133(+) cells than in NCs. Global gene expression analysis revealed considerably higher expression of genes associated with the production and secretion of proteins, migration, proliferation, and differentiation in lineage-negative cells than in CD34(+) or CD133(+) cell populations. Notably, after short-term incubation under serum-free conditions, lineage-negative cells and NCs produced significantly higher amounts of BDNF and NT-3 than under steady-state conditions. Finally, conditioned medium (CM) from lineage-negative SPCs exerted a beneficial impact on neural cell survival and proliferation.ConclusionsCollectively, our findings demonstrate that UCB-derived SPCs highly express NTs and their relevant receptors under steady-state conditions, NT expression is greater under stress-related conditions and that CM from SPCs favorable influence neural cell proliferation and survival. Understanding the mechanisms governing the characterization and humoral activity of subsets of SPCs may yield new therapeutic strategies that might be more effective in treating neurodegenerative disorders.

Project description:Background:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs have emerged as important modulators of brain development and neuronal function and are implicated in several neurological diseases. Previous studies found miR-146a upregulation is the most common miRNA deregulation event in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), epilepsy, and intellectual disability (ID). Yet, how miR-146a upregulation affects the developing fetal brain remains unclear. Methods:We analyzed the expression of miR-146a in the temporal lobe of ASD children using Taqman assay. To assess the role of miR-146a in early brain development, we generated and characterized stably induced H9 human neural stem cell (H9 hNSC) overexpressing miR-146a using various cell and molecular biology techniques. Results:We first showed that miR-146a upregulation occurs early during childhood in the ASD brain. In H9 hNSC, miR-146a overexpression enhances neurite outgrowth and branching and favors differentiation into neuronal like cells. Expression analyses revealed that 10% of the transcriptome was deregulated and organized into two modules critical for cell cycle control and neuronal differentiation. Twenty known or predicted targets of miR-146a were significantly deregulated in the modules, acting as potential drivers. The two modules also display distinct transcription profiles during human brain development, affecting regions relevant for ASD including the neocortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. Cell type analyses indicate markers for pyramidal, and interneurons are highly enriched in the deregulated gene list. Up to 40% of known markers of newly defined neuronal lineages were deregulated, suggesting that miR-146a could participate also in the acquisition of neuronal identities. Conclusion:Our results demonstrate the dynamic roles of miR-146a in early neuronal development and provide new insight into the molecular events that link miR-146a overexpression to impaired neurodevelopment. This, in turn, may yield new therapeutic targets and strategies.

Project description:Treatment strategies of critical nerve injuries involving nerve gaps more than 3 cm are still not optimal. The need for an alternative to the standard autologous nerve grafts has led to the exploration of adipose derived stem cells (ASC) seeded in bioartificial nerve conduits for enhancement of peripheral nerve regeneration. ASC can be differentiated into Schwann cell like cells, which is believed to improve their neurotrophic potency. Nevertheless, the differentiation process requires several weeks and there is no evidence that the cells maintain their differentiated phenotype in vivo. Thus, the present study evaluated the synergistic effect of undifferentiated ASC with exogenously added growth factors in vitro with the aim to improve the neurotrophic potency of undifferentiated ASC through short ex-vivo stimulation with growth factors. The study furthermore provides a comparative in vitro assay of the six well-known neurotrophic factors NGF, GDNF, BDNF, CNTF, NT3 and NT4. ASC were cultured and thus stimulated in the presence of the respective exogenous growth factor for three days and resulting conditioned medium was evaluated in an in vitro axonal outgrowth assay. In addition, also unstimulated ASC’s conditioned medium was tested in combination with the respective exogenous growth factor for the same assay, which was perfomed on dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explants from 10 days old embryonic chicken. DRG explants from most promising conditions were further analyzed for upregulated STAT-3 and GAP-43 by qRT-PCR. Furthermore, also proteomics and phosphoproteomics were performed for ASC and DRG explants using mass spectrometry. The quantity of selected proteins contained in the ASC’s conditioned medium was investigated by ELISA. Combination of ASC’s conditioned medium with growth factors generally resulted in significantly enhanced axonal outgrowth when compared with their control of DRG explants cultured with the respective growth factor only. Specifically, conditioned medium derived from NT3-stimulated as well as ASC’s conditioned medium supplemented with NT3 or BDNF elicited significant axonal outgrowth from DRG explants in contrast to all other experimental conditions. Significant upregulation of STAT-3 and GAP-43 was evidenced for DRG explants grown in NT3-stimulated ASC’s conditioned medium and to a certain extent also for DRG cultured in ASC’s conditioned medium supplemented with NT3.

Project description:Neurological syndromes, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and lysosomal storage disorders, such as Battens disease, are devastating because they result in increasing loss of cognitive and physical function. Sadly, no drugs are currently available to halt their progression. The relative paucity of curative approaches for these and other conditions of the nervous system have led to a widespread evaluation of alternative treatment modalities including cell-based interventions. Several cell types have been tested successfully in animal models where safety and efficacy have been demonstrated. Early clinical trials have also been initiated in humans, and some have shown a degree of success albeit on a more limited scale than in animal experiments. Recent demonstrations that pluripotent stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, can differentiate into a variety of specific neural phenotypes has stimulated worldwide enthusiasm for developing cell-based intervention of neurological disease. Indeed, several groups are preparing investigational new drug applications to treat disorders as diverse as macular degeneration, lysosomal storage diseases, and Parkinson's disease. It is noteworthy that cell replacement therapies for neurological conditions face key challenges, some of which are unique, because of the development and organization of the nervous system, its metabolism, and connectivity. Choice of the cell (or cells), the process of manufacturing them, defining the delivery pathway, developing and testing in an appropriate preclinical model, selecting a patient population, and visualizing and following or monitoring patients all pose specific issues as related to the central and peripheral nervous systems. In this review, we address a myriad of challenges that are solvable, but require careful planning and attention to the special demands of the human nervous system.

Dataset Information

Neural stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative disorders: The role of neurotrophic support.

Publications

Neural stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative disorders: The role of neurotrophic support.

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