A pilot study of clinical cell therapies in Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease dominated by progressive cognitive dysfunction causing significant social, economic, and medical crises. Cell therapy has demonstrated favorable effects for AD. This pilot study examined the safety and neurorestorative effects of the olfactory ensheathing cell (OEC), olfactory neuron (ON), and Schwann cell (SC) on patients with AD. Seven patients with AD were enrolled in this two-center, randomized, double-blind, and placebo- controlled cell therapy study with a subsequent 12-month follow-up. We randomly assigned one or two participants in OEC, ON, and SC therapy or OEC combined with ON and placebo control. All enrolled patients were injected cells or medium into the olfactory sub-mucosa. They got an assessment of Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and Clinical Dementia Rating before treatment and 1, 3, 6, 12 months after treatment. We performed MRI or CT scans before treatment and 12 months after treatment. After integrating the results from the three evaluation methods, all cell types showed better results than a placebo control. ON and SC seem to exhibit more vital potential neurorestorative ability to enhance or convert the neurological functions of patients with AD, and OEC may help AD patients keep neurological functions stable. In this pilot study, there was no adverse or side-effect event. The results of this study strongly suggest conducting a phase II clinical trial of ON, SC, and OEC therapy to prove their neurorestorative effect on patients with AD.