Liver disease is a major cause of death and disability. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) show promise for the treatment of liver disease. However, whether MSC-based therapy is more effective than conventional treatment is unclear, as are the optimal MSC source, the administration frequency, and the most effective MSC delivery route. We therefore undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs against liver disease and the related factors.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are increasingly being used in the treatment of a wide variety of sports-related conditions. Despite this enthusiasm, the biological properties of MSCs and their effects on musculoskeletal tissue healing remain poorly understood. MSC-based strategies encompass cell populations with heterogeneous phenotypes isolated from multiple tissues and using different methods. Therefore, comprehensive reporting of the source, preparation methods, and characteristics of MSC strategies is essential to enable interpretation of results.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of disability in the world. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been studied to treat OA. This review was performed to systematically assess the quality of literature and compare the procedural specifics surrounding MSC therapy for osteoarthritis.

Clinical trials of intracoronary injection of bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMCs) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have revealed promising but variable and modest results. One of the reasons underlying this situation may be the unstandardized preparation of BMCs.

The myonuclear domain theory postulates that myonuclei are added to muscle fibers when increases in fiber cross-sectional area (i.e., hypertrophy) are ≥26%. However, recent studies have reported increased myonuclear content with lower levels (e.g., 12%) of muscle fiber hypertrophy.

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of audiovisual distraction on reducing dental anxiety in children during dental treatment under local anesthesia.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have emerged as breakthrough treatments for myocardial infarction. However, the efficacy of MSC remains unclear. The aim of the study was to evaluate treatment effect of MSC in terms of mechanical, regenerative, and clinical outcomes for patients with myocardial infarction (MI) using meta-analysis.

Damage to critical brain regions causes deficits in important neurological functions. Chondroitinase ABC (ChABC) has been shown to promote neuroplasticity and may ameliorate neurological deficits caused by disease or trauma. This systematic review identifies and evaluates preclinical studies of ChABC as a treatment for acute brain injury.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) injection has emerged as a novel treatment for knee osteoarthritis (KOA) but with inconsistent results in the experimental studies. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the preclinical animal studies of MSCs injection for KOA and to determine the evidence for a role for MSCs in further clinical trials.

B cell function and antibody production are crucial factors in host protection during inflammation. We aimed to synthesize the available evidence on the association between the reduction of circulating B cells and plasma immunoglobulin (IgM) levels and decreased survival during sepsis.

Currently, antibodies are progressively applied in medicine for different purposes, including diagnostic and therapeutic indications. Over twenty monoclonal antibodies utilized for many therapeutic reasons from therapy of cancers, immune disorders, and osteoporosis to localized bony defects. In addition, therapeutic antibodies represented various findings in bone tissue engineering.

The aim of this study was to document the available evidence on the use of regenerative techniques for the treatment of femoral head osteonecrosis (or avascular necrosis of femoral head, AVN) and to understand their benefit compared to core decompression (CD) alone in avoiding failure and the need for total hip replacement (THR).

Development of de novo hematologic malignancies in donor cells after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) provides a useful in vivo model to study the process of leukemogenesis. A systematic analysis of the cases reported in the literature was performed to identify risk factors and mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of donor cell-derived hematologic neoplasms (DCHN) and leukemogenic transformation. Relevant data were extracted from 137 cases. Cases of DCHN show a wide heterogeneity with regard to recipient/donor age, sex mismatch, and conditioning regimen. Some characteristics, such as the type of primary disease, the type of hematologic malignancy of the DCHN, and the stem cell source used in the transplant procedure, differ from those expected. Mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of DCHN are complex, and several hypotheses have been proposed, such as pre-existing hematologic neoplasms or premalignant clones in the donor, decreased immune surveillance, and damage to bone marrow microenvironment in the recipient. Most likely several if not all these mechanisms play a role in DCHN development. Novel approaches, such as next-generation sequencing to study consecutive samples after allo-SCT in these patients, appear to be promising to decipher the mechanisms of leukemogenesis.

Reconstruction of degenerated temporomandibular joint (TMJ) structures remains a clinical challenge. Tissue engineering (TE) is a promising alternative to current treatment options, where the TMJ is either left without functional components, or replaced with autogenous, allogeneic, or synthetic grafts. The objective of this systematic review was to answer the focused question: in experimental animal models, does the implantation of biomaterial scaffolds loaded with cells and/or growth factors (GFs) enhance regeneration of the discal or osteochondral TMJ tissues, compared with scaffolds alone, without cells, or GFs? Following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines, electronic databases were searched for relevant controlled preclinical in vivo studies. Thirty studies reporting TMJ TE strategies in both small (rodents, rabbits; n = 25) and large animals (dogs, sheep, goats; n = 5) reporting histological and/or radiographic outcomes were included. Twelve studies reported ectopic (subcutaneous) implantation models in rodents, whereas 18 studies reported orthotopic, surgically induced defect models in large animals. On average, studies presented with an unclear-to-high risk of bias. In most studies, mesenchymal stem cells or chondrocytes were used in combination with either natural or synthetic polymer scaffolds, aiming for either TMJ disc or condyle regeneration. In summary, the overall preclinical evidence (ectopic [n = 6] and orthotopic TMJ models [n = 6]) indicate that addition of chondrogenic and/or osteogenic cells to biomaterial scaffolds enhances the potential for TMJ tissue regeneration. Standardization of animal models and quantitative outcome evaluations (biomechanical, biochemical, histomorphometric, and radiographic) in future studies, would allow more reliable comparisons and increase the validity of the results.

Multipotent mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have strong tropism towards cancer cells, thus being tested as tools for the targeted delivery of therapeutic substances for the treatment of melanoma. However, different experimental approaches for melanoma induction and MSC treatment can have a direct impact on the outcomes. Systematic search was carried out in three databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) to include all studies, where stem cells were used as intervention for animal models for melanoma. Selected articles were classified according to SYRCLE's risk of bias tool for animals' studies. Experimental variables and published data for tumor incidence and growth were extracted from the eligible articles and standardized using Hedge's G for random effects meta-analysis and meta-regression. From 627 entries, 11 articles were eligible for meta-analysis. All studies tested the effects of a single injection of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) (from bone marrow or adipose tissue) admixed with B16 mouse melanoma cells (B16-F0 or B16-F10) or with human melanoma cells (A375 or M4Beu) in mice. Mean SYRCLE score was 3.09 out of 10. Results from random effects meta-analysis indicate that MSCs favored both tumor incidence and tumor growth (p = 0.001) in melanoma. Our results show that MSCs are protumorigenic in co-injection mice models for melanoma, increasing both tumor incidence and growth.

To perform a systematic review of clinical studies evaluating bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) in the treatment of musculoskeletal pathology to compare levels of reporting with recently published minimum standards.

Dental pulp represents a promising and easily accessible source of mesenchymal stem cells for clinical applications. Many studies have investigated the use of human dental pulp stem cells and stem cells isolated from the dental pulp of human exfoliated deciduous teeth for bone tissue engineering in vivo. However, the type of scaffold used to support the proliferation and differentiation of dental stem cells, the animal model, the type of bone defect created, and the methods for evaluation of results were extremely heterogeneous among these studies conducted. With this issue in mind, the main objective of this study is to present and summarize, through a systematic review of the literature, in vivo studies in which the efficacy of human dental pulp stem cells and stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) for bone regeneration was evaluated. The article search was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE and Web of Science databases. Original research articles assessing potential of human dental pulp stem cells and SHED for in vivo bone tissue engineering, published from 1984 to November 2017, were selected and evaluated in this review according to the following eligibility criteria: published in English, assessing dental stem cells of human origin and evaluating in vivo bone tissue formation in animal models or in humans. From the initial 1576 potentially relevant articles identified, 128 were excluded due to the fact that they were duplicates and 1392 were considered ineligible as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. As a result, 56 articles remained and were fully analyzed in this systematic review. The results obtained in this systematic review open new avenues to perform bone tissue engineering for patients with bone defects and emphasize the importance of using human dental pulp stem cells and SHED to repair actual bone defects in an appropriate animal model.

The rapid spread of severe infections mainly due to resistant pathogens, justifies the search for therapies aiming to restore immune functions severely compromised in patients with hematologic malignancies. Areas covered: The present review summarizes the current knowledge on the role of granulocyte transfusions and colony-stimulating factors as treatment strategy for hematologic patients with serious infectious complications. In addition, a survey among 21 hematologic centers, to evaluate the clinical practice for the use of G-CSF originator and biosimilars was performed. Expert commentary: Granulocyte transfusions with a target dose of at least 1.5-3 × 108 cells/kg, may be considered as an approach to bridge the gap between marrow suppression and recovery of granulocytes. G-CSF shortens the period of neutropenia, the hospitalization, the use of antibiotics and the rate of febrile neutropenia (FN) in adult and pediatric patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and in adults with acute myeloid leukemia where these advantages nevertheless, did not translate into a clinical benefit. G-CSF biosimilar showed equivalence or non-inferiority to filgrastim. There are no data supporting the use of GM-CSF, eltrombopag and erythropoietin for preventing or treating infectious complications in patients with hematologic disorders.

Neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a devastating neurologic condition with high mortality rates and long-term complications for surviving infants. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have emerged as novel therapeutic agents with promising results in experimental studies of HIE. The purpose of this study is to (a) methodically review the current preclinical literature describing MSC therapy in animal models of HIE, (b) quantify the effect size in regards to functional neurologic outcome, and (c) identify research gaps/limitations that should be addressed prior to future preclinical and clinical studies.

CAR-T cells are a promising new therapy that offer significant advantages compared with conventional immunotherapies. This systematic review and clinical trial landscape identifies and critiques published CAR-T cell clinical trials and examines the critical factors required to enable CAR-T cells to become a standard therapy. A review of the literature was conducted to identify suitable studies from the MEDLINE and Ovid bibliographic databases. The literature and database searches identified 20 studies for inclusion. The average number of participants per clinical trial examined was 11 patients. All studies included in this systematic review investigated CAR-T cells and were prospective, uncontrolled clinical studies. Leukemia is the most common cancer subtype and accounts for 57.4% (n = 120) of disease indications. The majority of studies used an autologous cell source (85%, n = 17) rather than an allogeneic cell source. Translational challenges encompass technical considerations relating to CAR-T cell development, manufacturing practicability, clinical trial approaches, CAR-T cell quality and persistence, and patient management.