The potential of stem cells for the treatment of brain tumors and globoid cell leukodystrophy

Stem cells of different origin are under careful scrutiny as potential new tools for the treatment of several neurological diseases. The major focus of these reaserches have been neurodegenerative disorders, such as Huntington Chorea or Parkinson Disease (Shihabuddin et al., 1999). More recently attention has been devoted to their use for brain repair after stroke (Savitz et al., 2002). In this review we will focus on the potential of stem cell treatments for glioblastoma multiforme (Holland, 2000), the most aggressive primary brain tumor, and globoid cell leukodystrophy (Krabbe disease), a metabolic disorder of the white matter (Berger et al., 2001). These two diseases may offer a paradigm of what the stem cell approach may offer in term of treatment, alone or in combination with other therapeutic approaches. Two kinds of stem cells will be consideredhere: neural stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells, both obtained after birth. The review will focus on experimental models, with an eye on clinical perspectives. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.