In adult rats, intrathecal implantation of encapsulated hCNTF-C2C12 cells or control C2C12 confirmed the long-term survival of these cells and their potential use as a source of neurotophic factors for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Together, these results indicate that rhCNTF fused with the protein transduction domain/TAT retains neurotrophic activity in the absence of CNTFs cytokine-like side effects and may be a promising candidate for the treatment of motor neuron and other neurodegenerative diseases.
These data suggest that CNTF originated from TRPV1 activated astrocytes may be beneficial to treat neurodegenerative disease associated with neuro-inflammation such as Parkinson's disease.
The mechanisms underlying CNTF-mediated neuroprotection were explored through transcriptome analysis, revealing widespread upregulation of proteolysis inhibitors, which may prevent cellular/extracellular matrix degradation and complement activation in neurodegenerative diseases.
Neurotrophic factors, such as ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), have been implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a human neurodegenerative disease primarily of upper and lower motor neurones.
Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is characterized as a neuropoietic cytokine for a broad spectrum of neurons, leading to its evaluation in humans suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.
Ciliary neurotrophic factor null alleles are not a risk factor for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, hereditary neuropathy with pressure palsies and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.