Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Stem Cell Therapy
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a disease that affects the nervous system, and damages the nerve cells that are responsible for the control of movement, rendering the individual incapacitated and disabled. It became popular some few years ago, with the water challenge. People had to pour cold water on themselves, and pledge to give a certain amount of money to support the advancement and research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The water challenge was a huge success, as ex-American presidents participated, as well the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, and most American celebrities. The campaign generated about 100 million dollars and made people more aware of the disease as well. The money was to the benefit of the Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis association, and their objective is to fund research and studies on the treatment of the disease. In addition, the fund was also meant for taking care of those suffering from the disease. It’s a complex disease and requires a lot of funds and attention. Stem cell therapy has shown to be a good alternative to the treatment of the disease. This disease is also referred to as the Lou Gehrig’s disease. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis presents with symptoms like speech problems, fatigue, muscle weakness, weakness of the muscles associated with respiration and so on. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis presently has no cure, patients can only be managed, so they can live a more comfortable life.
What Are the Types of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive disease, that affects the neurological system. It affects the voluntary muscles of the body. They can be classified in various ways. First, they can be classified based on their rate of progression, also whether it’s genetic or acquired and lastly, and lastly by what part of the body they start from. According to statistics, over seventy percent of the disease starts from the limbs, before they affect other parts of the body. In addition, about twenty-five percent starts from the facial area, the mouth, and the neck area. Lastly, around five percent of begins from the trunk. However, it doesn’t matter where the on-set is, the disease still eventually spreads to other parts of the body.
Signs and Symptoms
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis progressively affects and damages the motor neurons. This leads to the weakness of the muscles, and when these muscles are not put to use in a long time, they atrophy. This disease leads to the degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons. Patients will gradually lose the ability to control the voluntary muscles of the body. In addition, less than half of people affected by this disease, usually have behavioral changes and also in cognition. The signs and symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis can be divided into three parts;
- Early symptoms: The symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis might initially be negligible, but they become more obvious with time. Some of the initial symptoms of this neurological disease weakness of the muscles of the limb, and atrophy, because of disuse, and problems with breathing, eating. Also, patients do have difficulty in speaking. The part of the body affected first, depends on the type of nerve cells damaged. People whose symptoms start from their lower limbs, usually have problems with locomotion. Walking and running becomes difficult for them. Also when it starts from their upper limbs, they might have problems performing simple tasks with their hands, such as using a fork and knife, grabbing things, lifting a cup and so on.
This disease progresses to patient finding it difficult to breathe, move and even speak.
Progression: Symptoms and on-set might vary in different persons, however, it eventually progresses and spreads to other parts of the body. Patients gradually start losing normal functions like speaking, being able to swallow, difficulty breathing, and also, the limb muscles become weak and atrophied. According to studies, people below the age of forty usually have a slower disease progression, as compared to those above forty years. In addition, patients who are slightly obese, and that has only a limb affected, generally do have a slower disease progression. On the other hand, people whose amyotrophic lateral sclerosis symptoms start from the respiratory system, do have a fast progression and a bad prognosis.
Late stages: Breathing and eating become more difficult. This increases the chance of the patients accidentally getting food into their lungs, or aspirating liquid. In this stage, patients would start losing a lot of weight, because of their inability to properly feed. Respiratory functions also tend to worsen, due to muscular dysfunction, especially with the diaphragm muscles, and other accessory muscles that aid respiration. Most people affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis die within a period of in less than three years after diagnosis. Also, about one-fifth of people affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis live for five to ten years after the first symptoms. However, there have been usual cases, where people live for decades. An example is a British physicist, Stephen Hawking, who have with the disease lived for more than five decades.
Causes of by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Up to ten percent of all cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis can be attributed to genetics. The other causes of the disease have not been well proven yet. However, there are some factors that play important roles in the development of this diseases
- Genetics: This can be attributed to genetic mutations. Up to ten percent of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases are inherited. According to studies, a defect on the chromosome that codes for the enzyme superoxide dismutase are connected to more than twenty percent of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases.
- Immune cells: Sometimes, the body immune system fails to identify the neurons as body tissues, and begins to attack them. This leads to the destruction of these cells.
How Is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Currently Treated?
ALS has no cure, however, the disease progression can be slowed down. Examples of medications administered are Riluzole and Edaravone.
Stem Cell Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Stem cells are cells capable of undifferentiated cells, that are capable of developing into any kind of cell. They are capable of regeneration and tissue repair. The stem cells when introduced into the body repairs any injured nerve cell and replaces the destroyed ones. Stem cell therapy is safe, as they stem cells are extracted from the body of the patient. This eliminates any risk of rejection.
References
Foley, G. (2011). The complexity of care in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, 12(3), pp.160-161.
Mao, Z., Zhang, S. and Chen, H. (2015). Stem cell therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Cell Regeneration, 4(1), pp.4:11.
Mazzini, L., Fagioli, F. and Boccaletti, R. (2004). Stem-cell therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The Lancet, 364(9449), pp.1936-1937.
The Alsuntangled Group (2010). ALSUntangled Update 3: Investigating stem cell transplants at the Hospital San Jose Tecnologico de Monterrey. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, 11(1-2), pp.248-249.
