[SW3-2] Recent advances in stem cells therapy for ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive motor neuron loss. In addition to an oral drug riluzole, a free radical scavenger edaravone was recently approved as a new anti-ALS drug. However, the therapeutic benefit of those treatments is still greatly limited, which demands a novel therapeutic strategy for ALS.
Recently we reported that systemic administration of Multilineage-differentiating stress enduring (Muse) cells showed a significant clinical benefit for the ALS mice model, in which Muse cells migrated to the damaged spinal cords, supplied astroglia contributing survival of motor neurons. These results suggest that Muse cells homed in the lesion-site dependent manner, protected the spinal cord against the motor neuron death, Muse cells might also be a promising cell source for treatment of ALS patients.
In this section, we would like to discuss how to develop the stem cell therapy for ALS in the coming future.
Reference
1. Yamashita T et al., Therapeutic benefit of Muse cells in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Sci Rep 10: 17102 (2020).
Recently we reported that systemic administration of Multilineage-differentiating stress enduring (Muse) cells showed a significant clinical benefit for the ALS mice model, in which Muse cells migrated to the damaged spinal cords, supplied astroglia contributing survival of motor neurons. These results suggest that Muse cells homed in the lesion-site dependent manner, protected the spinal cord against the motor neuron death, Muse cells might also be a promising cell source for treatment of ALS patients.
In this section, we would like to discuss how to develop the stem cell therapy for ALS in the coming future.
Reference
1. Yamashita T et al., Therapeutic benefit of Muse cells in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Sci Rep 10: 17102 (2020).