Adult Stem Cell Treatment Centers for Alzheimer's

About 5 million Americans, mostly seniors, and 18 million worldwide, currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease, a progressive neurological disorder that affects memory and body functioning, and spurs the development of plaques and tangles in the brain. Medical science is still not sure what causes the disease and although there are numerous experimental treatments, there is no known cure. For years, there has been speculation that stem cell research could lead to effective treatment of Alzheimer's, and with new funding, research facilities have begun sprouting up at universities to tackle the disease through adult stem cells.

How Adult Stem Cells Work

• Adult stem cells are found in many organs and tissues of the body. They can renew themselves and develop into major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ. Their main functions are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. Until recently, medical science believed that only embryonic stem cells could turn into any kind of cell, which led to controversy, and in the United States, restrictions on stem cell research. But recent research has developed a way to successfully induce adult stem cells into a state in which they can actually transform into other types of cells.

Stem Cells Treatment in Alzheimer's Patients

• Most people develop Alzheimer's in old age. Because of this, it has been long held that the dementia and cognitive impairment caused by Alzheimer's can't be fixed because neurons don't regenerate in adulthood. But new research has revealed that scientists are able to generate neurons from skin cells, meaning stem cell research for Alzheimer's is expected to accelerate.

Treatment Facilities

• Currently, there is no place to get treated for Alzheimer's. Families and physicians coordinate the care of Alzheimer's patients. Most "treatments" are drugs designed for early-stage sufferers to slow down the progression of the disease.

  However, new research facilities will begin clinical trials that will offer experimental treatments using stem cells specifically for Alzheimer's disease, once human trials are cleared by the federal government. The existing centers that have signed on to do this work include University of California at Irvine's Sue and Bill Gross Hall: A California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan Medical School.

How Treatment Works

• Although many techniques are likely to be developed, the procedure's technical name is neuronal regeneration by transplantation. Essentially, healthy stem cells that exist elsewhere in the body are identified as suitable for the procedure. They are harvested and then injected into the brain. The procedure helps replenish the affected area with normal cells.

Warnings

• Although its statement came before many advances in adult stem cell research, the Alzheimer's Association has said funding stem cell research was not a priority, because the organization believed the treatment was more effective for other diseases. Although it supports stem cell research, the association's statement laid out numerous obstacles to overcome before it believed stem cell treatment was a viable option for Alzheimer's patients.