Korea University Anam Hospital Proves the Possibility of Treating Vascular Dementia Using Stem Cells

Korea University Anam Hospital announced on the 26th that a research team, including professors Park Donghyeok and Kim Janghoon from the Department of Neurosurgery, Kim Jonghoon from the Department of Biotechnology, and Geum Dongho from the Department of Biomedical Science, has proven the effectiveness of regenerative therapy using stem cells in vascular dementia.

Vascular dementia is a type of dementia caused by insufficient blood supply to the brain, accounting for approximately 20% of all dementia cases. It occurs in about 30% of stroke survivors, with chronic cerebral small vessel disease being a primary cause. However, unlike Alzheimer’s dementia, no effective treatment has been established, highlighting the need for further research.

To address this, the research team conducted experiments by dividing animal models into three groups: a normal group, a vascular dementia group, and a neural progenitor cell treatment group. The neural progenitor cell treatment group received neural progenitor cells derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells for 15 days following the induction of vascular dementia lesions.

After three months of follow-up, the researchers conducted immunohistochemical analysis and neurobehavioral tests to compare and analyze differences among the groups.

The results showed that the number of IBA-1 and GFAP positive cells, which indicate the degree of inflammation, was 130 and 110, respectively, in the vascular dementia group.

In contrast, the neural progenitor cell treatment group exhibited a reduced cell count of 90 and 70, respectively, confirming a decrease in neuroinflammation.

The fluorescence intensity of myelin protein, which helps maintain neural function, decreased to 60 in the vascular dementia group but increased to over 90 in the neural progenitor cell treatment group, reaching a level similar to that of the normal group. This finding demonstrated that neural progenitor cells positively contribute to myelin regeneration.

In neurobehavioral tests, the Passive Avoidance Test (PAT) results showed that the neural progenitor cell treatment group retained memory for 252.0 seconds, whereas the vascular dementia group lasted only 92.1 seconds. Additionally, in the Novel Object Recognition Test (NORT), the neural progenitor cell treatment group exhibited a 2.2-fold improvement in memory and cognitive ability compared to the vascular dementia group.

Professor Park Donghyeok stated, “This study confirms that neural progenitor cells reduce neuroinflammation in vascular dementia animal models, regenerate myelin, a key component of neuronal axons, and enhance memory and cognitive function. This discovery suggests that neural progenitor cells could offer a novel therapeutic approach for vascular dementia.”

Professor Kim Janghoon added, “This research lays the foundation for developing regenerative treatments using stem cells for vascular dementia in the future. We hope this study will bring new hope to patients who have not benefited from existing treatments.”

This study was conducted as part of the Korean Fund for Regenerative Medicine (KFRM) research project and was patented in South Korea in December 2022 (Patent No. 10-2477030). It was published in the February 2025 issue of the globally recognized regenerative medicine journal Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.

Meanwhile, Professor Park Donghyeok specializes in the treatment of cerebral aneurysms and other cerebrovascular diseases, actively engaging in related research.

Recently, he has been conducting various national research projects on treatments for vascular dementia, ischemic stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. Notably, he has identified the therapeutic efficacy of combining extracellular vesicles derived from human embryonic stem cells with the stem cell-derived MFG-E8 protein in ischemic stroke treatment.