Investigating Stem Cell Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease: A Promising Approach

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, a form of dementia commonly affecting people 40-65. Growing more prevalent in society, approximately 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older live with AD. AD is a progressive, long-term neurological disorder that worsens cognitive skills, memory, and communication abilities leading to a performative decline in daily tasks. Characterized by the accumulation of extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) plaque and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) of tau in the central nervous system, these account for synapse loss and neuronal death in the brain. Unfortunately, even with its detrimental impacts, clinical trials of therapeutic drugs are still to be tested and not available to the public. Current research on stem cell transplantation has been shown to alleviate neuropathologies and is explored as a prospective treatment for AD. This literature review assesses the important uses of stem cell therapy for AD patients to provide a new clinical approach for future treatment. Further clinical research should be conducted on the long-term outcomes of stem cell therapy for deeper analysis of its therapeutic effects for AD.