Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Oct;9(10):1174-1189.
doi: 10.1002/sctm.19-0430. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

Mesenchymal stem cells as a multimodal treatment for nervous system diseases

Bogna Badyra  1 , Maciej Sułkowski  1 , Olga Milczarek  2 , Marcin Majka  1
Affiliations
Review

Mesenchymal stem cells as a multimodal treatment for nervous system diseases

Bogna Badyra et al. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Neurological disorders are a massive challenge for modern medicine. Apart from the fact that this group of diseases is the second leading cause of death worldwide, the majority of patients have no access to any possible effective and standardized treatment after being diagnosed, leaving them and their families helpless. This is the reason why such great emphasis is being placed on the development of new, more effective methods to treat neurological patients. Regenerative medicine opens new therapeutic approaches in neurology, including the use of cell-based therapies. In this review, we focus on summarizing one of the cell sources that can be applied as a multimodal treatment tool to overcome the complex issue of neurodegeneration-mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Apart from the highly proven safety of this approach, beneficial effects connected to this type of treatment have been observed. This review presents modes of action of MSCs, explained on the basis of data from vast in vitro and preclinical studies, and we summarize the effects of using these cells in clinical trial settings. Finally, we stress what improvements have already been made to clarify the exact mechanism of MSCs action, and we discuss potential ways to improve the introduction of MSC-based therapies in clinics. In summary, we propose that more insightful and methodical optimization, by combining careful preparation and administration, can enable use of multimodal MSCs as an effective, tailored cell therapy suited to specific neurological disorders.

Keywords: immunomodulation; mesenchymal stem cells; nervous system regeneration; neurodegeneration; neuroprotective secretome; stem cells transplantation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Therapeutic mechanisms of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the nervous system. Source: Servier Medical Art, modified. BBB, blood‐brain barrier
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Schematic overview of the most essential aspects of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)‐based cell therapies in treatment of nervous system diseases. Created with BioRender.com
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fu H, Hardy J, Duff KE. Selective vulnerability in neurodegenerative diseases. Nat Neurosci. 2018;21(10):1350‐1358. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mortezaee K, Khanlarkhani N, Beyer C, Zendedel A. Inflammasome: its role in traumatic brain and spinal cord injury. J Cell Physiol. 2018;233(7):5160‐5169. - PubMed
    1. Lingam I, Robertson NJ. Magnesium as a neuroprotective agent: a review of its use in the fetus, term infant with neonatal encephalopathy, and the adult stroke patient. Dev Neurosci. 2018;40(1):1‐12. - PubMed
    1. Pierce AA, Xu AW. De novo neurogenesis in adult hypothalamus as a compensatory mechanism to regulate energy balance. J Neurosci. 2010;30(2):723‐730. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Louveau A, Herz J, Alme MN, et al. CNS lymphatic drainage and neuroinflammation are regulated by meningeal lymphatic vasculature. Nat Neurosci. 2018;21(10):1380‐1391. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms