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Neural stem cell therapies for enteric nervous system disorders

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 11, pages 317–328 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The enteric nervous system is vulnerable to a range of congenital and acquired disorders that disrupt the function of its neurons or lead to their loss. The resulting enteric neuropathies are some of the most challenging clinical conditions to manage. Neural stem cells offer the prospect of a cure given their potential ability to replenish missing or dysfunctional neurons. This article discusses diseases that might be targets for stem cell therapies and the barriers that could limit treatment application. We explore various sources of stem cells and the proof of concept for their use. The critical steps that remain to be addressed before these therapies can be used in patients are also discussed. Key milestones include the harvesting of neural stem cells from the human gut and the latest in vivo transplantation studies in animals. The tremendous progress in the field has brought experimental studies exploring the potential of stem cell therapies for the management of enteric neuropathies to the cusp of clinical application.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the potential steps for stem cell therapy for enteric neuropathies.
Figure 2: Gastrointestinal neuropathies and disorders that are potentially amenable to enteric neural stem cell therapies.
Figure 3: Selection, culture and transplantation of enteric neural stem cells.

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Acknowledgements

N. Thapar would like to acknowledge the support of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. We are grateful to a number of colleagues at UCL Institute of Child Health, UK; to D. Smithson for the artwork and to D. Natarajan, J. Cooper, C. McCann and J.-M. Delalande for the images and much of our work described in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neural Development and Gastroenterology Units, Birth Defects Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK

    Alan J. Burns & Nikhil Thapar

  2. Division of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Great Ormond Street, London, WC1N 3JH, UK

    Nikhil Thapar

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  1. Alan J. Burns
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  2. Nikhil Thapar
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Both authors contributed equally to all aspects of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nikhil Thapar.

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Burns, A., Thapar, N. Neural stem cell therapies for enteric nervous system disorders. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 11, 317–328 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2013.226

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