Stem cell therapy applications in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

ALS is a de vas ta ting in cu rab le ne u ro de ge ne ra ti ve di se a se that tar gets mo tor ne u rons, ma ni fes ting as a li ne ar dec li ne in mus cu lar func ti on which even tu ally le ads to pa raly sis, spe ech de fi cits and dyspha gi a. Wit hin 2 to 5 ye ars of cli ni cal on set de ath, du e to res pi ra tory fa i lu re, oc curs. The vast ma jo rity of mo to ne u ron di se a se (MND) ca ses are spo ra dic, the eti o logy of which is unknown and the pat ho ge ne sis in comp le tely un ders to od. Re cent da ta ha ve imp li ca ted the mic ro - en vi ron ment of the mo tor ne u ron, rat her than the mo tor ne u ron it self, as a pri mary tar get of the pat hoph ysi o logy. Gre at in te rest has be en fo cu sed on inf lam ma tory pro ces ses and mic rog li a activation. Any ex pe ri men tal the ra pe u tic ap pro ach to ALS is very dif fi cult be ca u se so me peculiarities of the di se a se, such as the unk nown ori gin, the spa ti ally dif fu si on of the mo tor ne uron loss, the pa u city of ani mal mo dels. Des pi te such da un ting chal len ges, a num ber of the po ten ti al bene fits of stem cells in ALS the rapy ha ve be en de mons tra ted in ex pe ri men tal mo dels. To da te, if ne u ro nal rep la ce ment in ALS pa ti ents se ems a dis tant go al, using stem cells to pre vent mo tor neurons from dying is a mo re re a lis tic shor ter term cli ni cal ap pro ach. In this pa per we sum ma ri ze cur rent prec li ni cal and cli ni cal evi den ces abo ut stem cells app li ca ti on in Am yot rop hic La te ral Sclero sis, par ti cu larly fo cu sing on the me sench ymal li ne a ge.