A clinical study on intravenous transplantation of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells for treating mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease
Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of intravenous transplantation of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells(hUCB-MNC)in the treatment of patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease(AD).Methods Fifty patients with mild-to-moderate AD were randomly divided into treatment group and control group,with 25 cases in each group.The treatment group received intravenous infusion of hUCB-MNC,while the control group was given donepezil hydrochloride by oral administration.The course of treatment was 12 weeks in both groups.We evaluated 1H-proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy(1H-MRS)parameters[N-acetylaspartate/creatinine(NAA/Cr),choline/cre-atinine(Cho/Cr),inositol/creatinine(mI/Cr),and N-acetylaspartate/inositol(NAA/mI)ratios],urinary AD7c-NTP level,and Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)score in both groups before and after treatment.Results After treat-ment,the treatment group showed significant increases in the total MoCA score and the score of each cognitive domain;and the treatment group had significant greater improvements in memory,visuospatial and executive function,attention,and orientation than the control group(all P<0.05).After treatment,the treatment group showed significantly increased NAA/Cr,Cho/Cr,and NAA/mI ratios and a significantly decreased mI/Cr ratio;and the improvements in NAA/Cr,Cho/Cr,NAA/mI,and mI/Cr were significantly greater in the treatment group than in the control group(all P<0.05).The uri-nary AD7c-NTP level in the treatment group was significantly reduced after treatment,and the improvement was signifi-cantly better compared with the control group(both P<0.05).Conclusion Intravenous transplantation of hUCB-MNC can significantly improve memory,visuospatial and executive function,and other cognitive domains as well as brain me-tabolism and neuronal damage in patients with mild-to-moderate AD.1H-MRS and urinary AD7c-NTP evaluations can pro-vide new ideas for the clinical treatment of AD.