Blood derived neuronal differentiation

Stem cell therapies have become an increasingly attractive option to investigate and treat neurodegenerative diseases like PD. Today, this therapy offers promising hope for almost all forms of neurodegenerative diseases including PD, Huntington's disease (HD), Alzheimer's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Preclinical and clinical trials in PD patients have demonstrated that stem cell therapy of human embryonic mesencephalic tissue has the capacity to reinnervate the striatum. PD, in fact, has emerged as the best-suited neurodegenerative diseases for stem cell therapy. The essence of stem cell therapy in PD is the ability of stem cells to differentiate into dopaminergic neurons. Potential limitations of using sources like fetal tissue include ethical concerns and the ability to obtain adequate amounts of tissue for treatment. In contrast human PBMNCs contain a multitude of distinct multipotent progenitor cell populations and possess the potential to differentiate into almost all cells of the three embryonic layers, including blood cells, ECs, hepatocytes, cardiomyogenic cells, muscle cells, OBs, OCs, epithelial cells, neural cells and myofibroblasts. Moreover, PBMNCs can be reprogrammed to iPSCs, further expanding the phenotypic conversion potential of these cells. PBMNCs may be superior to other cell sources for cell-based therapy. In comparison to bone marrow or other sources of multipotent cells, the isolation of peripheral blood is minimally invasive, and does not require general anesthesia. In addition, autologous PBMNC transplantation does not require long-term immunosuppressive therapy and can be applied with no ethical limitations. These advantages will accelerate the transition from cell therapies for animal models to clinical applications.