Mesenchymal Stem Cells Home to Sites of Injury and Inflammation

Several human studies show positive signals, while research methods and sample sizes continue to develop.

• 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)

Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown significant therapeutic potential in preclinical animal models of wound healing. However, the translation of MSC-based therapeutics to clinical practice has been delayed by questions including the mechanisms of MSC homing, engraftment, and ultimate function. The problem Experimental models of MSC-based wound therapies often involve intravenous injection of cells followed by sacrifice of animals at various time points and detection of MSCs in wounds by histological methods. However, this methodology is limited by its sampling of only specific tissue at a single time point and provides no information about how exogenously transplanted MSCs home to the wound environment. Basic/clinical science advances Most systemically injected MSCs initially become entrapped within the lungs before migrating out to the liver and spleen in the normal state. When an injury is present, after the initial lung entrapment, MSCs migrate in response to inflammatory mediators and home to sites of wounding. Clinical care relevance As MSC-based wound therapies continue to advance toward clinical trials, the availability of noninvasive methods to track cells after injection into patients affords the opportunity to monitor stem cell behavior post-transplantation. Conclusion MSCs have demonstrated great promise as an emerging therapeutic for wound management

Evidence level

Several human studies show positive signals, while research methods and sample sizes continue to develop.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.