Stem Cell Transplantation for Autoimmune Diseases and Inflammation


Book Description

This book introduces many new technologies and clinical applications of hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and inflammatory diseases. Presented in two parts, Part 1 focuses on stem cell therapies for autoimmune disease treatment; Part 2 focuses on stem cell therapies and their application in the treatment of common inflammatory diseases, including chronic knee osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, liver cirrhosis, Crohn's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and more. This book is an essential source for all advanced students and researchers involved with these diseases, stem cells, or both. Stem Cell Transplantation for Autoimmune Diseases and Inflammation and the other books in the Stem Cells in Clinical Applications series are invaluable to scientists, researchers, advanced students and clinicians working in stem cells, regenerative medicine, or tissue engineering as well as cancer or genetics research.




Stem Cell Therapy for Autoimmune Disease


Book Description

Stem cell transplantation may be complicated by treatment-related mortality and like the immune system that it regenerates has equal potential to either create and preserve or destroy. The dual nature that defines stem cells is differentiation that ultimately leads to death and self-renewal, which leads to immortality. What types of stem cells are there? How are they collected? What are their attributes and characteristics? This textbook devotes many chapters to familiarize the reader with the basic science, clinical aspects, and new questions being raised in the field of stem cell biology. Blood stem cells for tolerance and tissue regeneration are a rapidly developing research and clinical field that is being applied to autoimmune diseases. In clinical trials, autologous hematopoietic (blood) stem cells are being used to reduce the cytopenic interval following intense immune suppressive transplant regimens. While as yet not delineated, some possible mechanisms and pathways leading to tolerance after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are suggested in these chapters. Tissue regeneration from blood stem cells is also suggested by animal experiments on stem cell plasticity or metamoirosis (i.e., change in fate) as described within this textbook. Ongoing early clinical trials on tissue regeneration from blood stem cells are described in the chapter on stem cell therapy for cardiac and peripheral vascular disease. Whether autologous hematopoietic stem cells, through the process of mobilization and reinfusion, may be manipulated to contribute to tissue repair in autoimmune diseases is a future area for translational research.




Immune Profile after Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Autoimmune Diseases: Where Do We Stand?


Book Description

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) was proposed 20 years ago as an alternative therapeutic approach for patients with severe and refractory autoimmune diseases. Since then, this innovative therapy has been successfully used to treat several autoimmune diseases, such as neurological disorders (Multiple Sclerosis), connective tissue diseases (Systemic Sclerosis and Systemic Lupus Erythematous), gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases (Crohn’s Disease) and others (Juvenile Arthritis, Type 1 Diabetes, Vasculitis). Experience in phase I-II and III clinical trials over the years has led to increased safety and efficacy of this procedure. Recent studies have demonstrated superior therapeutic efficacy of AHSCT versus conventional therapies, showing that transplantation can induce long-term disease remission in the absence of any further immunosuppressive treatment. Immune monitoring studies have showed that AHSCT is able to reduce the inflammatory milieu, to reset the immune balance and to promote the generation of a new auto-tolerant immune repertoire. However, some patients fail to remain in remission, and disease is re-activated after some time post-transplantation. This scenario indicates that further immunological interventions may be still required to improve AHSCT efficacy. Clear understanding of the operating immune mechanisms that contribute to specific clinical outcomes is vital to enable improvement of AHSCT protocols for autoimmune diseases.




Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies for Autoimmune Diseases


Book Description

This book summarizes the global progress in medical and scientific research toward converting traditionally chronic autoimmune diseases into a drug-free reversible illness using hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and other cellular therapies such as T regulatory cells (Treg), mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, and chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cells in order to reintroduce sustained immune tolerance. This title provides information on different types of stem cells and immune cells; post-transplant immune regeneration; cellular regulatory requirements; ethical and economic considerations; and the advantages and disadvantages of HSCT in the treatment of a variety of autoimmune diseases versus current conventional treatments. Arranged by disease, the text provides a comprehensive guide to HSCT for all types of autoimmune/immune disorders including monogenetic autoimmune diseases; autoimmune aplastic anemia; neurologic immune diseases including multiple sclerosis, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, neuromyelitis optica, and stiff person syndrome; rheumatologic diseases such as systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus; dermatologic diseases such as pemphigus; gastrointestinal disorders such as Crohn’s disease and celiac disease; and immune-mediated endocrinologic disease type I diabetes mellitus. Guidance is provided on the transplantation technique, cell collection and processing, conditioning regimens, infections, and early and late complications. Key Features Outlines therapies and techniques for HSCT for autoimmune diseases Discusses the advantages of HSCT over conventional therapies Reviews the entire process of stem cell therapy from harvest and ethics to indications, efficacy, and regulatory oversight




Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Immunomodulation


Book Description

This essential volume explores mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their potential to suppress immune-mediated inflammation. The chapters examine applications in autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis; blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma; and reproductive complications, specifically pre-term labor and use of MSCs in vitro and in animal models to discover methods of suppressing the causal inflammatory response. It also further defines the methodologies required to develop research on MSCs in vitro into established preclinical animal models including those which are proven replicas of autoimmunity and pre-term labor, to name but two. Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Immunomodulation, part of Springer’s Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, is an invaluable resource for researchers and clinicians working with stem cells, autoimmune disease, oncology, and reproductive medicine.




Stem Cell-Dependent Therapies


Book Description

Multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a heterogeneous population of cells which reside in a variety of tissues. They differentiate into several mesodermal lineages, secrete a multitude of trophic factors and contribute to tissue homeostasis. MSCs are able to exert immunosuppressive activities by interfering with inflammatory cytokine production and with T- and B-cell proliferation. These immunomodulating properties make MSCs promising candidates for the treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. There are, however, certain caveats involved including inappropriate migration of cells in the body, immune rejection, tumor formation, or graft versus host disease (GvHD). This book investigates the current state of the MSC-dependent therapy of chronic inflammatory disorders and autoimmune diseases. Among the covered topics are GvHD, chronic kidney, liver and lung disease, ischemic heart and inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, various rheumatic and neurological disorders and, lastly, tumors and solid organ transplantations. This book also questions the immunoprivileged status of MSCs, discusses the therapeutic role of MSCs in experimental animal disease models and their translation to the corresponding human disorders, envisions a role for MSCs in tumor interventions and, lastly, describes a systems biology approach for stem cells and inflammation.




Non-Myeloablative Allogeneic Transplantation


Book Description

Non-myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation (also known as mini-transplantation or reduced-intensity conditioning transplantation) is a major advance in the field of hematopoietic transplantation within the last 5 years. This approach uses non-cytotoxic or reduced-intensity cytotoxic therapy to prepare patients for allografting of hematopoietic stem cells and lymphocytes. It has the potential to deliver the potent anti-tumor immunotherapy and bone marrow replacement capacity of allogeneic stem cell transplantation to patients with reduced treatment-related morbidity and mortality. It may also enable allogeneic transplantation in patients who would be considered ineligible for conventional transplants because of co-morbidity or advanced age. However, this approach may necessitate more careful monitoring of post-transplant chimerism and malignant disease-status than is usual with conventional allografting. There is also controversy regarding the best preparative regimen and graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis to use.




Autoimmune Neurology


Book Description

Autoimmune Neurology presents the latest information on autoimmune neurologic disease, the immune response to the body where organs run wild, causing the immune system to attack itself. Autoimmunity is a main element in numerous nervous system diseases and can target any structure within the central or peripheral nervous system. Over the past 20 years, significant advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of autoimmune disorders, including the use of biomarkers has led to new diagnosis and treatment options. Neurologic conditions associated with autoimmune reactions include dementia, neuromuscular disease, epilepsy, sleep disorders, diabetes, and other common neurologic disorders and disease. This current tutorial-reference will be a must-have title for clinical neurologists, research neurologists, neuroscientists, and any medical professional working with autoimmune disease and disorders. Includes comprehensive coverage of autoimmune neurology Details the latest techniques for the study, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and disorders, including dementia, neuromuscular disease, epilepsy, and sleep disorders Presents a focused reference for clinical practitioners and the clinical neurology and neurology research communities




Everyday Miracles


Book Description

A life-changing treatment is conquering auto-immune disorders—why doesn’t anyone know about it? Thirty-five years ago, Dr. Richard Burt began a journey to treat chronic autoimmune diseases as they’d never been treated before. Using a treatment originally developed for leukemia but modified to be more gentle—a one-time combination of immune targeting drugs followed by a transplant of the patient’s blood stem cells—he has documented the successful and often dramatic reversal of multiple sclerosis, systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIPD), neuromyelitis optica, and Crohn’s disease. After decades of study and randomized trials, his approach, which has been duplicated in other parts of the world, is finally being recognized as an effective means of reversing these “incurable” diseases. Some of his patients have been symptom-free for more than twenty years, and in this book Dr. Burt tells their stories alongside his own journey of developing and refining the treatment, known as hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for autoimmune disorders. “These patients are the heroes,” Dr. Burt has said. “Their bodies and spirits faced unrelenting disease, and yet they fight valiantly against the suffering and obstacles.” What is HSCT? How does it work? What are the risks? Why aren’t more doctors talking about it? And why is it still out of reach for so many patients who could benefit from it? Dr. Burt answers these questions and many more. Written for the layperson, Everyday Miracles grants patients with autoimmune diseases and the people who love them insights into the revolutionary approach that could convert their life sentence into a one-time reversible illness.