Stem Cells Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most frequent demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) associated with inflammatory plaques of white matter demyelination, oligodendrocyte destruction, reactive gliosis and axonal degeneration. In this chapt
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Stem Cells Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Nassim Abi Chahine and Paul Lu
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Overview of Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common form of demyelinating diseases. It manifests with different symptoms in the areas it attacks in the central nervous system. Multiple sclerosis has shown to be a worldwide problem, with an approximate prevalence of 90 per 100,000 in the population, occurring at almost any age above 10, and causing different life limiting and debilitating states occasionally. The clinical management of MS costs billions of dollars yearly, and the number of patients with MS is estimated to be around 2.5 million worldwide. The patients mainly have African and Caucasian origins. There is no known cure currently available, but some proposed therapies exit aiming to inhibit the aggression of MS. Many studies have shown that MS is the autoimmune disease “in progression” that involves the cellular apoptosis of nervous system and its
N. Abi Chahine (*) ACE Cells Lab Ltd., Sheffield, UK e-mail: [email protected] P. Lu Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
components, the myelin. MS starts with damage from the myelin sheath of the central axons. The disease can start practically at any age, leading in its advanced form to an axonal degeneration. The disease prevalence has been on the rise in several areas around the world (Compston and Coles 2008). However, most of the immune suppressive measures seems to be failed. Some medications are probably related to the immune modulatory potential of these agents, and this is shown with interferon beta family of drugs. Other drugs affect the lymphocytes behavior as well. Their appearance at the global market was a total breakthrough as they are in oral form, but the usage of these oral agents is still limited and considered by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a second-line treatment due to their side effects on the cardiac, respiratory, hepatic, and ophthalmologic systems. Probably, the monoclonal antibodies are the most clinically effective substances. That is what statistics showed in terms of reduction of clinical relapses (67%) and in terms of inhibition of imaginary progression (83%). But on the other hand, hives, pruritus, and the possible “anaphylactoid” infusion reactions are not the only adverse side effects; the concern goes into the direction of serious progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy,
# Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 F. Han, P. Lu (eds.), Stem Cell-based Therapy for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 1266, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4370-8_7
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making this therapy a somewhat of risky measure too. It is important to mention that in the past chemotherapy was also used, and it was temporarily approved for treating this disease. It was considered as a last resort. All in all, these expensive drugs imposed heavy costs over the private sector and the assuring payer parties. Based on the presen
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