Cell-free therapy for canine osteoarthritis: current evidence and prospects

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• 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)

Osteoarthritis is a progressive degenerative disease affecting joints. It is associated with structural and functional changes that cause lameness and pain in dogs. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered an ideal therapeutic candidate for treating inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions due to their paracrine and immunomodulatory characteristics. They are delivered intravenously or as intra-articular injections for treating canine osteoarthritis. However, ex vivo studies have confirmed that the osteoarthritic synovial fluid is cytotoxic to cultured MSCs. Therefore, intra-articular transplantation of viable MSCs should be considered counterproductive since it minimizes cellular viability. Similarly, the intravenous administration of MSCs limits the therapeutic effects on the organ of interest since most of the administered cells get trapped in the lungs. Therefore, cell-free therapeutic strategies such as conditioned media and extracellular vesicles (EVs) can potentially become the future of MSC-based therapy in managing canine osteoarthritis. It overcomes the limitations of MSC-based therapy, such as tumor differentiation, immunogenicity, and pulmonary embolization, and has advantages like low immunogenicity and off-shelf availability. In addition, they eliminate problems such as low cell survival, transmission of infections, and unpredictable behavior of the transplanted

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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