Neurodegenerative disorders are characterized by the gradual decline and irreversible loss of cognitive functions and CNS structures. As therapeutic recourse stagnates, neurodegenerative diseases will cost over a trillion dollars by 2050. A dearth of preventive and regenerative measures to hinder regression and enhance recovery has forced patients to settle for traditional therapeutics designed to manage symptoms, leaving little hope for a cure. In the last decade, pre-clinical animal models and clinical investigations in humans have demonstrated the safety and promise of an emerging cellular product from subcutaneous fat. The adipose-derived stromal vascular fraction (SVF) is an early intervention and late-stage novel 'at point' of care cellular treatment, demonstrating improvements in clinical applications for Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. SVF is a heterogeneous fraction of cells forming a robust cellular ecosystem and serving as a novel and valuable source of point-of-care autologous cell therapy, providing an easy-to-access population that we hypothesize can mediate repair through 'bi-directional' communication in response to pathological cues. We provide the first comprehensive review of all pre-clinical and clinical findings available to date and highlight major challenges and future directions. There is a greater medical and economic urgency to innovate and develop novel cellular therapy solutions that enable the repair and regeneration of neuronal tissue that has undergone irreversible and permanent damage.
Keywords: SVF; adipose tissue; neurodegeneration; stem cells; stromal vascular fraction; therapy MSC.
© 2022 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics.