Open Access

REVIEW

Pioneering a new era in Parkinson’s disease management through adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy

MOHAMMAD-SADEGH LOTFI, FATEMEH B. RASSOULI^*

Novel Diagnostics and Therapeutics Research Group, Institute of Biotechnology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, 9177948974, Iran

* Corresponding Author: FATEMEH B. RASSOULI. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Perspectives on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine)

BIOCELL 2024, 48(10), 1419-1428. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2024.053597

Received 06 May 2024; Accepted 08 July 2024; Issue published 02 October 2024

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disorders worldwide. So far, PD treatments only offer little clinical relief and cannot reverse or stop the disease progression. Stem cell (SC) therapy is a rapidly evolving technology that holds significant promise for enhancing current therapeutic approaches. Adipose-derived mesenchymal SCs (AD-MSCs) have many features such as easy harvest with minimal invasive techniques, high plasticity, non-immunogenicity, and no ethical issues, which have made them suitable choices for clinical applications in regenerative research. AD-MSCs are ideal tools to treat PD, as they have the potential to differentiate into functional dopaminergic neurons, and also could produce and secrete useful paracrine factors and extracellular vesicles, such as cytokines and growth factors, and thus promote the repair and regeneration of damaged nerve tissue. Studies revealed that AD-MSCs induced angiogenesis, nerve regeneration, and memory and motor improvement in cellular and animal models of PD. Moreover, clinical studies demonstrated the safety of AD-MSC transplantation in PD patients. This review provides a comprehensive and current summary of the therapeutic potential of AD-MSC transplantation for the treatment of PD, by highlighting the ability of cells to differentiate into functional dopaminergic neurons.

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