Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Aug 26, 2020; 12(8): 787-802
Published online Aug 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i8.787
Stem cell therapy for Alzheimer's disease
Xin-Yu Liu, Lin-Po Yang, Lan Zhao
Xin-Yu Liu, Lin-Po Yang, Lan Zhao, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300381, China
Lan Zhao, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin 300381, China
Lan Zhao, National Clinical Research Center for Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin 300381, China
Author contributions: Liu XY wrote the paper; Yang LP was involved in the data collection; Zhao L was responsible for the review design, revision, and research funding. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81202740; and Tianjin Natural Science Fund, No. 17JCYBJC26200.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lan Zhao, PhD, Research Fellow, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion; National Clinical Research Center for Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Moxibustion, No. 88 Changling Road, Xiqing District, Tianjin 300381, China. lanzhao69@163.com
Received: February 28, 2020
Peer-review started: February 28, 2020
First decision: April 2, 2020
Revised: April 10, 2020
Accepted: July 26, 2020
Article in press: July 26, 2020
Published online: August 26, 2020
Processing time: 179 Days and 20.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder featuring memory loss and cognitive impairment, is caused by synaptic failure and the excessive accumulation of misfolded proteins. Stem cell-based therapies cast a new hope for AD treatment as a replacement or regeneration strategy. The results from recent preclinical studies regarding stem cell-based therapies are promising. Human clinical trials are now underway. However, a number of questions remain to be answered prior to safe and effective clinical translation. This review explores the pathophysiology of AD and summarizes the relevant stem cell research according to cell type. We also briefly summarize related clinical trials. Finally, future perspectives are discussed with regard to their clinical applications.