[Therapeutic potential of fetal neuron grafts in neurodegenerative diseases]

Neurodegenerative diseases are a major public health problem since they affect as a mean 1% of the people in industrialized countries, and will progress along with the ageing of the population. For ten years, a major research endeavor aims at developing new therapeutics against these diseases. These new approaches are based either on the substitution of affected neurons by homogous neuroblasts that are able to replace them anatomically and functionally (fetal neural grafts), or on the use of neuroprotective proteins (by gene therapy) that are able to promote natural defenses of neural cells. Clinical results have been obtained with fetal neural transplants over the past decade, in patients with Parkinson's and, more recently, Huntington's disease. The neuroprotective approach is under evaluation.