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Review
. 2018 Mar 30;19(4):1039.
doi: 10.3390/ijms19041039.

Stem Cells Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury

Marina Gazdic  1 , Vladislav Volarevic  2 , C Randall Harrell  3 , Crissy Fellabaum  4 , Nemanja Jovicic  5 , Nebojsa Arsenijevic  6 , Miodrag Stojkovic  7   8
Affiliations
Review

Stem Cells Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury

Marina Gazdic et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI), a serious public health issue, most likely occurs in previously healthy young adults. Current therapeutic strategies for SCI includes surgical decompression and pharmacotherapy, however, there is still no gold standard for the treatment of this devastating condition. Inefficiency and adverse effects of standard therapy indicate that novel therapeutic strategies are required. Because of their neuroregenerative and neuroprotective properties, stem cells are a promising tool for the treatment of SCI. Herein, we summarize and discuss the promising therapeutic potential of human embryonic stem cells (hESC), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and ependymal stem/progenitor cells (epSPC) for SCI.

Keywords: embryonic stem cells; ependymal stem/progenitor cells; induced pluripotent stem cells; spinal cord injury; stem cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A)Human embryonic stem cells (hESC), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and ependymal stem/progenitor cells (epSPC) as a promising tool in the therapy of SCI; (B) the role of FM19G11, an inhibitor of hypoxia inducible factor (HIFα), to mobilize epSPC. OCT3/4, octamer-binding transcription factor 3/4; SOX2, sex determining region Y box-containing gene 2; KLF4, Krüppel-like factor 4; TGF-α, transforming growth factor-alpha; GLUT-4, glucose transporter type 4.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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