Cell transplantation therapy for spinal cord injury

Abstract

Spinal cord injury can lead to severe motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunction. Currently, there is no effective treatment for the injured spinal cord. The transplantation of Schwann cells, neural stem cells or progenitor cells, olfactory ensheathing cells, oligodendrocyte precursor cells and mesenchymal stem cells has been investigated as potential therapies for spinal cord injury. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which these individual cell types promote repair and functional improvements. The five most commonly proposed mechanisms include neuroprotection, immunomodulation, axon regeneration, neuronal relay formation and myelin regeneration. A better understanding of the mechanisms whereby these cells promote functional improvements, as well as an appreciation of the obstacles in implementing these therapies and effectively modeling spinal cord injury, will be important to make cell transplantation a viable clinical option and may lead to the development of more targeted therapies.

Injectable hydroxyphenyl derivative of hyaluronic acid hydrogel modified with RGD as scaffold for spinal cord injury repair

“…Despite immunosuppression using the combination of three agents, hWJ‐MSCs did not survive in the host tissue over the period of 8 weeks. On the other hand, we proved the effect of the cells using immunohistochemical and qPCR analysis, which supports the commonly proposed hypothesis that transplanted cells release trophic factors that provide long lasting neurotrophic and immunomodulatory effects …”

Wnt4‐modified NSC transplantation promotes functional recovery after spinal cord injury

“…1,2 The current therapeutic strategies of SCI are not sufficient because of the failure of axonal and neural regrowth. 1,2 The current therapeutic strategies of SCI are not sufficient because of the failure of axonal and neural regrowth.…”

“…1 A serious of early-phase clinical trials have proven the potentially of the stem cell transplantation as a feasible strategy to repair the neural circuit after SCI. insufficient to reconstruct the interruption of neuroanatomical circuits.…”

“…insufficient to reconstruct the interruption of neuroanatomical circuits. 1 The number of elevated neurons, however, fluctuates across various proportion of exogenous NSC differentiates into astrocytes which are disadvantageous to the spinal cord repairing. 1 A serious of early-phase clinical trials have proven the potentially of the stem cell transplantation as a feasible strategy to repair the neural circuit after SCI.…”

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Transplantation Improves Locomotor Recovery in Rat Models of Spinal Cord Injury: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…The most obvious finding to emerge from our analyses was that in rats with SCI, iPSC transplantation significantly promotes the locomotor recovery according to the BBB score. A possible explanation for this might be that iPSC are one of the most widely used cell types for transplantation performed to recover the functions impaired as a result of injury [32]. In addition, the mechanism by which iPSC transplantation mediated functional improvements after SCI is multifaceted [33][34][35] although it is commonly accepted that iPSC transplantation can [7]: 1) reduce the area of syringomyelia and increase the area of spared tissue; 2) promote local microvascular regeneration and nerve regeneration for the repair of damaged cells; 3) reduce inflammation and inhibit oxidative stress after SCI; and 4) improve axonal growth and reconstruction of neural pathways by secreting substrates.…”