A Severe Alzheimer's Disease Patient Improved by Intravenous Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplant

TL;DR

A severe Alzheimer's patient showed symptom improvement after receiving intravenous mesenchymal stem cell treatment.

Contribution

This is the first reported case of terminal Alzheimer's symptoms improving with mesenchymal stem cell therapy.

Findings

Intravenous MSC administration improved smile loss and eye movement dysfunction in a terminal Alzheimer's patient.

Neck immobility and functional decline were observed to improve post-treatment.

The patient showed recovery in cognitive and motor symptoms after MSC therapy.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disorder and is the most common form of dementia. The terminal stage of AD is characterized by severe cognitive and substantial functional decline, requiring extensive assistance with daily activities. As effective therapies at this stage are not fully available, development of therapeutics that can recover any symptoms would be important to improve the quality of life. Recently, stem cell therapy has gathered a lot of attention in several neurological diseases, including AD. Here, we report an AD patient at the terminal stage whose symptoms were improved by the intravenous administration of ex vivo-expanded bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). The case is a 61-year-old woman with severe Alzheimer's disease who had been admitted to the special nursing home. She could neither walk nor sit up independently. She also did neither smile nor gaze properly when talked to. Rigidity including neck motion was observed. She was on dysphagia diets. We cultured her bone-marrow-derived MSCs and intravenously administered 1,5 × 108 cells. After the treatment, smile loss, eye movement dysfunction, and neck immobility were improved. This is the first case report that showed the therapeutic effects of MSCs on terminal symptoms of AD.