FETAL TRANSPLANTATION FOR THE TREATMENT OF NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES- CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE POTENTIAL

Patients with neurodegenerative diseases currently have few treatment options. However, neurotransplantation represents one potential treatm ent avenue. Animal studies using lesion-induced models of neurodegener ative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and Alzheimer's disease have shown that transplantation of appropriate fet al tissue can improve motor and cognitive deficits. Clinical trials of transplantation for Parkinson's disease and, recently, Huntington's d isease have demonstrated limited success in controlling symptoms, with some patients exhibiting greater improvement than others. Among the m any factors that may influence the clinical success of transplantation , graft volume has recently been shown to correlate with motor improve ment. Additional factors such as the age of the transplanted tissue or the disease stage of the host must also be investigated. Other potent ial means of improving the symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases incl ude gene transfer or administration of neurotrophic factors, either th rough direct infusion or by transplantation of biological sources. Cur rently, however, these treatment strategies are still under developmen t and have not been assessed clinically. Continued refinement of the t echnique of neurotransplantation, possibly in combination with these a lternative approaches, promises steady improvement in the treatment op tions for patients with neurodegenerative disease.