Stem cell therapy for cerebral ischemia: From basic science to clinical applications

Koji Abe, Toru Yamashita, Shunya Takizawa, Satoshi Kuroda, Hiroyuki Kinouchi, Nobutaka Kawahara

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

102 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent stem cell technology provides a strong therapeutic potential not only for acute ischemic stroke but also for chronic progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with neuroregenerative neural cell replenishment and replacement. In addition to resident neural stem cell activation in the brain by neurotrophic factors, bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) can be mobilized by granulocyte-colony stimulating factor for homing into the brain for both neurorepair and neuroregeneration in acute stroke and neurodegenerative diseases in both basic science and clinical settings. Exogenous stem cell transplantation is also emerging into a clinical scene from bench side experiments. Early clinical trials of intravenous transplantation of autologous BMSCs are showing safe and effective results in stroke patients. Further basic sciences of stem cell therapy on a neurovascular unit and neuroregeneration, and further clinical advancements on scaffold technology for supporting stem cells and stem cell tracking technology such as magnetic resonance imaging, single photon emission tomography or optical imaging with near-infrared could allow stem cell therapy to be applied in daily clinical applications in the near future.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1317-1331
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
Volume32
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2012

Keywords

  • Cerebral ischemia
  • neuroregeneration
  • neurorepair
  • stem cell therapy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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