Key Factors in Treatment for ALS/MND by Wu Medical Center
ALS patients have an average life expectancy of 3-5 years. The previously recognized effective treatment can only extend survival by 3 to 6 months, but the progressively declining motor function cannot get improved, indicating the limitation and ineffectiveness of ALS treatment in the past.
In recent years, the goal and standard for an effective treatment have shifted to stopping or significantly slowing down the disease’s progression, remarkably improving patient’s motor function and life quality, and extending their lift expectancy at least by one time (exceeding 10 years).
For ALS patients, the treatment should focus on improving their motor function, including their ability to use their arms and hands and to walk with their lower limbs, so that their life quality and confidence to fight against the disease would get significantly enhanced. Maintaining motor function is also necessary for extending lifespan.
Recent research in ALS treatment is mainly focusing on genetic approaches, which are often one-sided and limited. The pathogenesis of ALS involves multiple genes, and under different conditions, each set of genes can have multiple mutation forms, presenting significant challenges for its treatment.
Wu Medical Center (WMC) has achieved considerable success in treating ALS with nerve stem cells over the past 15 years. The nerve stem cells used do not have genetic defects, can produce normal proteomes, and help degrade abnormally accumulated proteins, thereby maintaining a stable metabolic state within the cells. For example, they carry a normal ubiquinone-protease system that can degrade alpha-synuclein, preventing abnormal protein accumulation. Thus, nerve stem cells can replace almost all the defects of diseased motor neurons and repair nerve damage.
Essential Conditions for Effective Stem Cell Treatment:
1. Patients need to be hospitalized. Stem cell treatment is a complex process that requires monitoring both the function of the implanted stem cells and the patient’s recovery. Patient should get hospitalized for around 14 days.
2. The treatment should show its effectiveness within 1-2 weeks, with significant improvement in motor function as the standard. The effectiveness should be maintained for at least 1 year, and the treatment can be repeated.
3. Stem cell types:
(a). Different stem cells work for different disease types, generally categorized into nervous disease type and muscular disease type. For example, ALS affects motor neurons and requires nerve stem cells for treatment, as they can directly differentiate into nerve cells; but for conditions with muscular atrophy, mesenchymal stem cells can be used, which can produce dystrophin under proper medicating influence to maintain muscle function.
(b). Different stem cells work for different times.
For instance, influenced by progenitor cell genes, nerve stem cells can ideally survive and function for years and decades, while mesenchymal stem cells can only survive about 3 months in human bodies. As a chronic progressive nervous degenerative disease, ALS is generally treated mainly with nerve stem cells, while the short-lived mesenchymal stem cells are also combined there (providing nutritional factors, etc.) to assist the nerve stem cell treatment.
4. ALS treatment requires CAST support:
(a). Control of the pathological environment: The improvement of patient’s condition, the enhancement of their motor function, and the maintenance of their function are related to whether the implanted nerve stem cells can be activated in the body, and how long they can survive and function, which depend on the impact of the pathological environment on the nerve stem cells. ALS has caused a pathological environment in patient’s body, which is why patient’s own motor neurons are gradually dying away. The newly implanted nerve stem cells will also get affected and die away in that pathological environment. Thus, reducing that pathological environment and its impact on stem cells is very crucial for the treatment to be effective. WMC can effectively control and reduce the impact of the disease through CAST therapy, enabling nerve stem cells to function, so that ALS patient’s condition could ge improved.
(b). Stem cell activation: Both autologous and transplanted stem cells need to be activated to function. Under controlled treatment, they can form bridges and synaptic connections to complete the repair process. However, there are some limiting factors for such a treatment, including the severity of patient's condition and their basic physical health. For patients at later stages of ALS, their respiratory and swallowing functions are affected, their blood oxygen levels are low, and their nutritional status is poor, all of which can affect the stem cells to get activated. During the hospitalized treatment, doctors will use CAST therapy to bring patient’s nutritional status, blood oxygen levels, and other signs up to standard, making the overall treatment effective.
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