Human neural stem cell transplantation improves cognition in a murine model of Alzheimer's disease.

Stem cell transplantation offers a potentially transformative approach to treating neurodegenerative disorders. The safety of cellular therapies is established in multiple clinical trials, including our own in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. To initiate similar trials in Alzheimer's disease, efficacious cell lines must be identified.

Correlation of Peripheral Immunity With Rapid Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Progression.

Importance: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has an immune component, but previous human studies have not examined immune changes over time.

Objectives: To assess peripheral inflammatory markers in participants with ALS and healthy control individuals and to track immune changes in ALS and determine whether these changes correlate with disease progression.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this longitudinal cohort study, leukocytes were isolated from peripheral blood samples from 35 controls and 119 participants with ALS at the ALS Clinic of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from June 18, 2014, through May 26, 2016.

Increased ratio of circulating neutrophils to monocytes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Objective: To elucidate amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) biomarkers and potential mechanisms of disease, we measured immune cell populations in whole blood from a large cohort of patients with ALS.

Methods: Leukocytes were isolated from the blood of 44 control patients and 90 patients with ALS. The percentages and total numbers of each cell population were analyzed using flow cytometry and matched with patient ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) score to correlate leukocyte metrics with disease progression.