Synovial mesenchymal stem cells-based therapy for cartilage repair An issue concerning clinical transformation / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Cartilage injury is stil one of the clinical problems difficult to be treated completely so far. Recently, the discovery of synovial mesenchymal stem cells (SMSCs) has brought about the new hope to cartilage repair. OBJECTIVE:To explore the process concerning SMSCs-based therapy for cartilage repair in the past few years, such as the characteristics of SMSCs, culture conditions, preclinical and clinical studies, and then to summarize the literatures published in recent years. METHODS:A computed-based online search of PubMed and SpringerLink databases was performed using the key words of“synovial mesenchymal stem cells, cartilage repair”for literatures published from January 1993 to May 2013. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Final y, 37 articles were included. SMSCs have a greater proliferative capability, colony-forming potential and chondrogenic potential than other mesenchymal stem cells. The diseases such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis can influence the characteristics of SMSCs. Numerous articles have aimed at the studies of cellculture in vitro and celltransplantation in vivo. However, the process of SMSCs therapy is mostly at its preliminary stage. Reports on its unique characteristics, optimal culture conditions and the high-quality clinical studies are stil largely lacking. In a word, though further studies are needed, SMSCs appear to be a promising cellsource for cartilage repair in the future.