Emerging therapy for diabetic neuropathy: cell therapy targeting vessels and
nerves.
Authors Kim H, Kim JJ, Yoon YS
Submitted By Young-sup Yoon on 10/31/2012
Status Published
Journal Endocrine, metabolic & immune disorders drug targets
Year 2012
Date Published 6/1/2012
Volume : Pages 12 : 168 - 178
PubMed Reference 22236028
Abstract Diabetic neuropathy (DN), the most common complication of diabetes, frequently
leads to foot ulcers and may progress to limb amputations. Despite continuous
increase in incidence, there is no clinical therapy to effectively treat DN.
Pathogenetically, DN is characterized by reduced vascularity in peripheral
nerves and deficiency in angiogenic and neurotrophic factors. We will briefly
review the pathogenetic mechanism of DN and address the effects and the
mechanisms of cell therapies for DN. To reverse the changes of DN, studies have
attempted to deliver neurotrophic or angiogenic factors for treatment in the
form of protein or gene therapy; however, the effects turned out to be very
modest if not ineffective. Recent studies have demonstrated that bone marrow
(BM)-derived cells such as mononuclear cells or endothelial progenitor cells
(EPCs) can effectively treat various cardiovascular diseases through their
paracrine effects. As BM-derived cells include multiple angiogenic and
neurotrophic cytokines, these cells were used for treating experimental DN and
found to reverse manifestations of DN. Particularly, EPCs were shown to exert
favorable therapeutic effects through enhanced neural neovascularization and
neuro-protective effects. These findings clearly indicate that DN is a complex
disorder with pathogenetic involvement of both vascular and neural components.
Studies have shown that cell therapies targeting both vascular and neural
elements are shown to be advantageous in treating DN.


Investigators with authorship
NameInstitution
Young-sup YoonEmory University

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