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Stem Cell Therapy for Autism and Other Neuropsychiatric Disorders

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 8491

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are heterogenous neurodevelopmental pathologies characterized by social interaction and communication impairments, as well as by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour. ASDs are multifactorial disorders, with epigenetic mechanisms underlying their development. Immune dysfunctions have been confirmed observations for children with ASDs. Together with other related neuropsychiatric insults, ASDs have been recognized as a public health problem. Currently, there are no definitive treatments for ASDs’ core symptoms. Pharmacological intervention does not affect all of the core symptoms, providing only partial relief for some of the dysfunctional behaviours. The current available strategies for ASDs can be grouped into behavioural, nutritional, and drug therapy.

Cell therapy represents great promise for the future of molecular and regenerative medicine. Several types of cells offer a valid approach to curing several untreatable human neurodegenerative diseases. Recent advances in the molecular mechanisms of psychiatric conditions indicate that cell therapy could be a potent treatment for these syndromes.

We invite authors to contribute original research articles and review articles that will focus on the novel findings on the molecular, biochemical, and cellular basis of neuropsychiatric disorders, with special emphasis on ASDs, in order to provide scientific rationale for cell application.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Recent insights into neuropsychiatric disorders research;

Identification of potential ASD biomarkers;

Recent advances in animal models;

Potential therapeutical application of cells;

Secretome biology and application.

Dr. Dario Siniscalco
Dr. Nicola Alessio
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Autism spectrum disorders
  • Psychiatric disorders
  • Stem cells
  • Cellular therapy
  • Guidelines
  • Neuroimmunology
  • Epigenetic and gene expression
  • microRNA and microvesicles
  • Neural plasticity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

10 pages, 308 KiB  
Review
Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
by Nicola Alessio, Anna Lisa Brigida, Gianfranco Peluso, Nicola Antonucci, Umberto Galderisi and Dario Siniscalco
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(3), 944; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030944 - 4 Feb 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 7852
Abstract
Neurodevelopmental lifelong pathologies defined by problems with social interaction, communication capacity and presence of repetitive/stereotyped clusters of behavior and interests are grouped under the definition of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD prevalence is still increasing, indicating the need to identify specific biomarkers and [...] Read more.
Neurodevelopmental lifelong pathologies defined by problems with social interaction, communication capacity and presence of repetitive/stereotyped clusters of behavior and interests are grouped under the definition of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD prevalence is still increasing, indicating the need to identify specific biomarkers and novel pharmacotherapies. Neuroinflammation and neuro-immune cross-talk dysregulation are specific hallmarks of ASD, offering the possibility of treating these disorders by stem cell therapy. Indeed, cellular strategies have been postulated, proposed and applied to ASD. However, less is known about the molecular action mechanisms of stem cells. As a possibility, the positive and restorative effects mediated by stem cells could be due to their paracrine activity, by which stem cells produce and release several ameliorative and anti-inflammatory molecules. Among the secreted complex tools, exosomes are sub-organelles, enriched by RNA and proteins, that provide cell-to-cell communication. Exosomes could be the mediators of many stem cell-associated therapeutic activities. This review article describes the potential role of exosomes in alleviating ASD symptoms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stem Cell Therapy for Autism and Other Neuropsychiatric Disorders)
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