Stem cells and their extracellular vesicles as natural and bioinspired carriers for the treatment of neurological disorders

Abstract

One of the most explored strategies to cure neurological disorders is the transplantation of stem cells and their derived products. Different stem cells, as well as their extracellular vesicles (EV), modified or not, have been administrated in a large array of preclinical neurological disorder models. EV represent the hope of a “cell-free” therapy that would combine the therapeutic potential of stem cells without their drawbacks. Stem cells and EV showed various degrees of efficiency but, overall, provided benefits and improvements. The administration route has a considerable impact on stem cell and EV safety and therapeutic effect. However, despite evidences of preclinical success, the different strategies developed based on stem cells to treat neurological disorders do not exactly recapitulate in clinical trials. Discrepancies between preclinical and clinical experimental conditions and settings, cell availability and difficulties to scale up and to produce cells and EV in a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) environment limit translation.