The next two decades could see stem cells tailor-made for patients.
In a supplement to Journal of Parkinson’s Diseaseexperts describe how stem cells could be used to treat Parkinson’s disease. The treatment of this pathology is today based on dopamine modulating therapies, improving motor impairment. But this medication has limitations and significant long-term side effects.
Replace lost neurons
“We desperately need a better way to help people with Parkinson’s disease, which is on the rise around the world. Medicines only partially treat coordination and movement problems”, explains Claire Henchcliffe in particular. , neurologist. “Stem cells could revolutionize this care,” she adds.
In summary, stem cells make it possible to avoid taking dopamine-based drugs. Since Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the degeneration of a cerebral structure, the transplantation of these cells, capable of replacing lost neurons, constitutes the basis of new therapeutic strategies.
Technological advances
In the past, human cells from aborted embryos were used. Although these transplants were able to survive and function for many years, there were scientific and ethical issues: fetal cells are limited in number and difficult to control. Only a few patients benefited from it, and some developed significant side effects, such as uncontrollable movements.
Recent advances in technology make it possible to ensure the quality of stem cells and to cultivate virtually unlimited quantities of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the laboratory. The choice of starting material has also widened, thanks to several lines of human embryonic stem cells. The first clinical trials of systematic transplantation using stem cells began last year in Japan.
Biological, practical and commercial barriers
“The next two decades could see the emergence of stem cells that are tailor-made for specific patients or groups of patients,” says Patrik Brundin, director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Science. But to do so, “there are several biological, practical and commercial hurdles that must be overcome,” he concludes.
Parkinson’s disease is the neurological disease that has increased the most between 1990 and 2015: the number of its victims has doubled. At the end of 2015, the number of Parkinson’s patients treated was around 160,000, with around 25,000 new cases per year. 17% of new cases were under the age of 65. By 2030, the number of Parkinson’s patients will have increased by 56% compared to 2015, with one person affected in 120 among those aged over 45.
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