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March 2024
Written by: Victoria A.W
Edited by: Ramisha Irfan
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent type of dementia. It is clinically characterised by progressive memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. The build-up of Extracellular β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) of a protein called tau in neurons are the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Human menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) have a higher proliferation (differentiation) rate and fewer ethical concerns (unlike human embryonic stem cells (hESC)).
There are no current therapies/treatments for AD that are certain that involve pharmacological agents that target either Aβ or tau aggregation inhibitors (interfere with the formation in biological systems by forming aggregates; plaques). Therefore, it is urgent to find alternative therapeutic strategies to treat AD. In recent years, with the development of stem cell technologies, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered a promising treatment for several neurodegenerative disorders, including AD. It has been reported that MSCs from bone marrow (BM-MSCs), umbilical cord (UC-MSCs), and adipose tissue (ASCs) can reduce the formation of Aβ and tau plaques, along with improving impaired spatial memory.
Human menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) are isolated from the menstrual blood of women. MenSCs are highly proliferative and multipotent (can differentiate into different cells); they exhibit beneficial phenotypes and properties and can differentiate into the three germ lineages. Compared with other variants of MSCs, MenSCs show higher proliferation rates and can be made readily available through a safer and simpler route without inducing pain or being associated with ethical issues. Furthermore, MenSCs exhibit remarkable regenerative capacity and low immunogenicity (immune response). These characteristics make MenSCs a potential therapeutic cell type for use in several other disease models, such as type 1 diabetes, myocardial infarction, fulminant hepatic failure, acute lung injury, and liver fibrosis.
In the present study, we examined whether intracerebral transplantation of MenSCs could have beneficial effects on the neuropathology of AD in APP and presenilin one (PS1) double-transgenic mice. We discovered that MenSCs reduced Aβ and tau build-up; and plaques, decreased cognitive decline, managed microglia (neural cells) activation, and restored Aβ clearance capacity in APP/PS1 transgenic (artificially inseminated DNA injected onto) mice.
In the present study, it is shown that the intracerebral transplantation (transplanting cells/tissues) of MenSCs has a domino effect/pattern in alleviating the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease:
The intracerebral transplantation of MenSCs is found to have increased levels of enzymes responsible for breaking down Aβ plaques.
It leads to changes in the expression of proinflammatory cytokines (protein controlling inflammation) and alters the phenotype (characteristic) of microglial cells (immune cells in the brain). It indicates that MenSCs may have anti-inflammatory effects in the brains of AD mice.
MenSCs significantly decreased amyloid plaques and reduced tau build-up in APP/PS1 mice.
It all leads to a dramatic improvement in the spatial learning and memory of APP/PS1 mice.
References
Zhao, Y., Chen, X., Wu, Y., Wang, Y., Li, Y., & Xiang, C. (2018). Transplantation of Human Menstrual Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviates Alzheimer's Disease-Like Pathology in APP/PS1 Transgenic Mice. Frontiers in molecular neuroscience, 11, 140. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2018.00140
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