World-Wide Efficacy of Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Preclinical Ischemic Stroke Models: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Conclusions: Our results show worldwide efficacy of BM-MSCs in improving functional outcomes in pre-clinical animal models of stroke and support testing these cells in clinical trials in various ranges of time windows using different delivery routes. The continued growing number of publications showing functional benefit of BM-MSCs are now adding limited value to an oversaturated literature spanning 18 years. Researchers should focus on identifying definitive mechanisms on how BM-MSCs lead to benefit in stroke models. Introduction Ischemic stroke is the 5th leading cause of death and the leading cause of long term disability in the United States (1, 2). Currently, tPA is the only FDA approved medical, non-invasive treatment for ischemic stroke, its use restricted by a narrow time window of 3 h (4.5 h in certain eligible patients) after symptom onset. This has limited the use of tPA to only a fraction of ischemic stroke patients. Ischemic stroke results in a complex cascade of events leading to the loss of neural tissue, including neurons and their supporting structures (3, 4). Concurrently, there is an initiation of local and systemic inflammatory responses that evolve over a period of days, and the extent of which determines the eventual degree of damage (4). Considering the involvement of multiple parallel processes contributing to recovery, it is not surprising that stroke researchers have tested a multitude of investigational therapies for ischemic stroke with no s...
Source: Frontiers in Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research