Copyright
©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Advances in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases: Perspectives for combination of stem cells with neurotrophic factors
Jie Wang, Wei-Wei Hu, Zhi Jiang, Mei-Jiang Feng
Jie Wang, Zhi Jiang, Mei-Jiang Feng, Department of Geriatrics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210011, Jiangsu Province, China
Jie Wang, Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Jiangning Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu Province, China
Wei-Wei Hu, Department of Geriatrics, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China
Mei-Jiang Feng, Key Laboratory for Aging & Disease, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210011, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Wang J, Hu WW and Jiang Z performed the literature search and drafted the manuscript; Feng MJ conceived the study, contributed to critical revision and editing of the manuscript, and all authors approved the final version submitted for publication.
Supported by the Social Development Project of Jiangsu Science and Technology Department, No. BE2015721.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest in relation to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mei-Jiang Feng, MD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Geriatrics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University; Key Laboratory for Aging & Disease, Nanjing Medical University, Jiangjiayuan Road 121, Nanjing 210011, Jiangsu Province, China. mjfeng416@163.com
Received: February 6, 2020
Peer-review started: February 6, 2020
First decision: March 5, 2020
Revised: March 31, 2020
Accepted: April 7, 2020
Article in press: April 7, 2020
Published online: May 26, 2020
Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, are a group of incurable neurological disorders, characterized by the chronic progressive loss of different neuronal subtypes. However, despite its increasing prevalence among the ever-increasing aging population, little progress has been made in the coincident immense efforts towards development of therapeutic agents. Research interest has recently turned towards stem cells including stem cells-derived exosomes, neurotrophic factors, and their combination as potential therapeutic agents in neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we summarize the progress in therapeutic strategies based on stem cells combined with neurotrophic factors and mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes for neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis on the combination therapy.
Core tip: Neurodegenerative diseases are currently incurable and the therapeutic strategies have been disappointing. Stem cells and neurotrophic factors are promising therapeutic agents, with the combination of the two being more attractive. This review focuses on the advances in such combination therapies in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The combination of stem cells with neurotrophic factors can not only replenish the target neurons but also provide secreted neurotrophins to improve the microenvironment for nerve repair and regeneration, which might represent a new approach in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
