Mesenchymal stem cell-derived conditioned medium demonstrates antifungal activity against ocular isolates of Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus: a proof-of-concept study.

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)

Ocular fungal infections are potentially sight threatening and their treatment is challenged by increasing burden of antifungal resistance. This study, in search of novel therapeutic strategies, aims to evaluate the antifungal efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell-derived conditioned medium (MSC-CM) derived from human adipose tissue (AD), bone marrow (BM), dental pulp (DP), and umbilical cord (UC) sources against ocular clinical isolates of Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus. The effect of MSC-CM on fungal growth was evaluated by colony-forming unit assay, whereas morphological alterations were assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). MSC-CM from all four tissue sources significantly inhibited the growth of C. albicans and A. flavus. Compared with control, AD-MSC-CM showed comparatively greater reduction across both the ATCC (36.17 × 10 9 CFU/mL vs 1.52 × 10 9 CFU/mL)) and ocular clinical strains (51.30 × 10 10 CFU/mL vs 1.07 × 10 10 CFU/mL) of C. albicans whereas DP-MSC-CM demonstrated the highest inhibition for A. flavus (ATCC: 17.14 × 10 10 CFU/mL vs 2.003 × 10 10 CFU/mL, and Clinical: 4.91 × 10 12 CFU/mL vs 0.710 × 10 12 CFU/mL). SEM imaging confirmed morphological damage, including surface irregularities, invaginations, and cell wall deformations in MSC-CM-treated fungi. These findings, for the first time, present a proof-of-concept that MSC-CM may serve as a pr

Evidence level

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

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