Stem Cell Treatment for Ataxia

Stem cell treatment involves the injection of immature stem cells that are basically the origin of all the cells within our bodies. Stem cells can differentiate into different cell lines, therefore replacing degenerating and damaged cells – as is the case in hereditary ataxias – with healthy ones from a healthy donor. Stem cells can differentiate into lots of cell lineages including skin, bone, hair, cartilage, neurons, muscles, fat cells, liver, etc.

In the case of ataxias and other neurological disorders, they also offer additional neuroprotection, i.e. preventing the already-ongoing process of neurological degeneration through (7):

• Secreting neuro-trophic factors that promote nervous cell proliferation and differentiation
• Modulating your immune system – thereby reducing the ongoing neuro-destructive process
• Promoting vascular supply to the nervous system
• Reducing free radicals and reactive oxygen species production that could have detrimental effects on the nervous system

Given the proven benefits of stem cell therapy in multiple conditions, including many genetic disorders, many studies have aimed to test the efficacy of stem cell treatment in the most common forms of hereditary ataxia that lack a curative therapy – namely Spinocerebellar ataxia and Friedreich’s ataxia.

In patients with hereditary ataxias, stem cell therapy has proven to (7-9):

• Stop, or at least delay, disease progression
• Prevent cerebellar and neural degeneration
• Restore normal nervous tissue architecture
• Improve motor skills, balance, and coordination
• Improve nervous tissue functioning and normal activity – with better alertness and less fatigue
• Reduce pain
• Improve the immune system
• Reduce the risk of developing malignancies in some forms of ataxia including ataxia-telangectasia

In general, stem cell therapy is well-tolerated in people with ataxia, with minimal side effects that are easily managed and rarely cause significant problems. You should be able to see a palpable improvement after around a mere two weeks of stem cell transplantation.

Additionally, results from stem cell therapy are usually life-long and provide prolonged and innumerable benefits that are difficult to obtain through conventional treatment methods that require multiple modalities because each drug usually target one aspect of the disease. This doesn’t in any way say that stem cell therapy can be used as a single treatment modality since we still recommend physiotherapy and other forms of treatments in our center, but it simply states the possible advantages of stem cell therapy over conventional modalities.

Few conventional treatment options are available for patients diagnosed with ataxia, which mostly focus on alleviating the symptoms. None of them are actually treating the loss of neurological function caused by cell degeneration in the cerebellum, brain stem and/or spinal cord. Stem cells have the ability to regenerate injured cells in the body, helping to reduce/reverse the symptoms and allowing ataxia patients to improve.