Table 2 Stem cells-based therapies for AD
From: Direct reprogramming of induced neural progenitors: a new promising strategy for AD treatment
Stem cell types | Sources | Advantages for clinical treatment | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
ESCs | Blastocyst | Low immunogenicity | Ethical issues |
High capacity of pluripotency | Difficult to get enough cells | ||
Tumorigenicity | |||
NSCs | Fetal brain | Low immunogenicity | Immune rejection |
Capacity of Aβ reduction | Ethical issues | ||
Low tumorigenicity | Difficult to get enough cells | ||
MSCs | Bone marrow | Low immunogenicity | Low differentiated efficacy into neurons |
Human umbilical cord blood | No ethical issues | Injure patients to harvest BM-MSCs | |
Capacity of Aβ reduction | Very limited source of hUCB-MSCs | ||
Immune modulation | |||
iPSCs | Somatic cells | No immunogenicity | Tumorigenicity |
No ethical issue | Low reprogramming efficacy | ||
High capacity of pluripotency | Low differentiation efficacy into specific neurons | ||
iNPCs | Somatic cells | No immunogenicity | Low reprogramming efficacy |
No ethical issue | Â | ||
Abilities to differentiate into region- and subtypes-specific neurons | |||
Direct reprogramming in vivo is simpler, quicker, safer, and harmless, as well as avoiding challenges of transplanted cells. |