Stem cell-conditioned medium is a promising treatment for Alzheimer's disease

Leila Alidoust; Mohammad Akhoondian; Amir Homayoun Atefi; Mohammad-Hossein Keivanlou; Mojtaba Hedayati Ch; Adele Jafari

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114543

Stem cell-conditioned medium is a promising treatment for Alzheimer's disease

Behav Brain Res. 2023 Aug 24:452:114543. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114543. Epub 2023 Jun 11.

Authors

Leila Alidoust¹, Mohammad Akhoondian², Amir Homayoun Atefi³, Mohammad-Hossein Keivanlou³, Mojtaba Hedayati Ch⁴, Adele Jafari⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
² Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
³ Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
⁴ Department of Microbiology, Virology and Microbial Toxins, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran; Microbial Toxins Physiology Group (MTPG), Universal Scientific Education Research Network (USERN), Rasht, Iran.
⁵ Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Electronic address: jafari.adele@gums.ac.ir.

PMID: 37311523
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114543

Abstract

Background and aim: Alzheimer's disease (AD), a prevalent progressive neurodegenerative disease, is mainly characterized by dementia, memory loss, and cognitive disorder. Rising research was performed to develop pharmacological or non-pharmacological approaches to treat or improve AD complications. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are stromal cells that can self-renew and exhibit multilineage differentiation. Recent evidence suggested that some of the therapeutic effects of MSCs are mediated by the secreted paracrine factors. These paracrine factors, called MSC- conditioned medium (MSC-CM), may stimulate endogenous repair, promote angio- and artery genesis, and reduce apoptosis through paracrine mechanisms. The current study aims to systematically review the advantages of MSC-CM to the development of research and therapeutic concepts for AD management.

Material and methods: The present systematic review was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus from April 2020 to May 2022 following the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews" (PRISMA) guidelines. The keywords, including "Conditioned medium OR Conditioned media OR Stem cell therapy" AND "Alzheimer's," was searched, and finally, 13 papers were extracted.

Results: The obtained data revealed that MSC-CMs might positively affect neurodegenerative diseases prognosis, especially AD, through various mechanisms, including a decrease in neuro-inflammation, reduction of oxidative stress and Aβ formation, modulation of Microglia function and count, reduction of apoptosis, induction of synaptogenesis and neurogenesis. Also, the results showed that MSC-CM administration could significantly improve cognitive and memory function, increase the expression of neurotrophic factors, decrease the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, improve mitochondrial function, reduce cytotoxicity, and increase neurotransmitter levels.

Conclusion: While inhibiting the induction of neuroinflammation could be considered the first therapeutic effect of CMs, the prevention of apoptosis could be regarded as the most crucial effect of CMs on AD improvement.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Mesenchymal Stem Cells; Stem cell- conditioned medium.

Publication types

Systematic Review
Review

MeSH terms

Alzheimer Disease* / metabolism
Culture Media, Conditioned / pharmacology
Humans
Mesenchymal Stem Cells*
Neurodegenerative Diseases* / metabolism
Stem Cells

Substances

Culture Media, Conditioned