TY - JOUR T1 - <strong>Stem cells Therapies in Alzheimer's disease: applications for disease modeling</strong> JF - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics JO - J Pharmacol Exp Ther DO - 10.1124/jpet.120.000324 SP - JPET-MR-2020-000324 AU - Zizhen Si AU - Xidi Wang Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2021/02/08/jpet.120.000324.abstract N2 - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with complex pathological and biological characteristics. Extracellular β-amyloid deposits, such as senile plaques, and intracellular aggregation of hyperphosphorylated tau, such as neurofibrillary tangles, remain the main neuropathological criteria for the diagnosis of AD. There is currently no effective treatment for the disease, and many clinical trials have failed to prove any benefits of new therapeutics. More recently, there has been increasing interest in harnessing the potential of stem cell technologies for drug discovery, disease modeling, and cell therapies, which have been utilized to study an array of human conditions, including AD. The recently developed and optimized induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology is a critical platform for screening anti-AD drugs and understanding mutations that modify AD. Neural stem cells (NSCs) transplantation has been investigated as a new therapeutic approach to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) also exhibit considerable excitement to treat neurodegenerative diseases by secreting growth factors and exosomes, attenuating neuroinflammation. This review highlights recent progress in stem cell research and the translational applications and challenges of iPSCs, NSCs, and MSCs as treatment strategies for AD. Even though these treatments are still in relative infancy, these developing stem cell technologies hold considerable promise to combat AD and other neurodegenerative disorders. Significance Statement Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that results in learning and memory defects. Although some drugs have been approved for AD treatment, only less than 20% of AD patients benefit from these drugs. Stem cell-based therapies, including iPSCs, NSCs, MSCs, provide promising therapeutic strategies for AD. ER -