Chapter 20. Cell-based Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease.

The irreversible loss of nervous structures and functional circuits characterizing neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), makes difficult the development of effective therapies. Currently, no neurodegenerative disease is curable, and the medical treatments available only manage the symptoms or halt the disease progression. This critical issue for AD clinical management led to an increased interest in novel strategies aimed at replacing or regenerating the lost nervous structures. Cell-based therapy represents the most recent revolutionary approach under intense investigation in medicine and the most promising candidate for more effective treatments of AD. The method consists of using cellular material able to replace the loss of specific neuronal functions, but the challenge for clinical application in AD patients is still open. Different cell sources have been tested for this purpose in both animal model of AD and clinical studies. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) appeared to display the major advantages and ongoing clinical trials are still assessing the safety and efficacy of using this cell source as potential candidate for translating years and years of pre-clinical research into clinical application of cell-based therapy for treating and curing AD patients.