Cell-based therapies have disease-modifying effects on osteoarthritis in animal models. A systematic review by the ESSKA Orthobiologic Initiative. Part 1: adipose tissue-derived cell-based injectable therapies.

Relatively higher-quality human studies compared with other topics in this database, e.g. multiple RCTs or systematic reviews. This does not mean it is standard or approved care.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Purpose This systematic review aimed to investigate in animal models the presence of disease-modifying effects driven by non-bone marrow-derived and non-adipose-derived products, with a particular focus on umbilical cord and placenta-derived cell-based therapies for the intra-articular injective treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). Methods A systematic review was performed on three electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science and Embase) according to PRISMA guidelines. The results were synthesised to investigate disease-modifying effects in preclinical animal studies comparing injectable umbilical cord, placenta, and other sources-derived products with OA controls. The risk of bias was assessed using the SYRCLE tool. Results A total of 80 studies were included (2314 animals). Cell therapies were most commonly obtained from the umbilical cord in 33 studies and placenta/amniotic tissue in 18. Cell products were xenogeneic in 61 studies and allogeneic in the remaining 19 studies. Overall, 25/27 (92.6%) of studies on umbilical cord-derived products documented better results compared to OA controls in at least one of the following outcomes: macroscopic, histological and/or immunohistochemical findings, with 19/22 of studies (83.4%) show positive results at the cartilage level and 4/6 of studies (66.7%) at the synovial level. Placenta-derived injectable products documented positive resu

Evidence level

Relatively higher-quality human studies compared with other topics in this database, e.g. multiple RCTs or systematic reviews. This does not mean it is standard or approved care.

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