Current state of stem cell-based therapies: an overview

Abstract

Recent research reporting successful translation of stem cell therapies to patients have enriched the hope that such regenerative strategies may one day become a treatment for a wide range of vexing diseases. In fact, the past few years witnessed, a rather exponential advancement in clinical trials revolving around stem cell-based therapies. Some of these trials resulted in remarkable impact on various diseases.In this review, the advances and challenges for the development of stem-cell-based therapies are described, with focus on the use of stem cells in dentistry in addition to the advances reached in regenerative treatment modalities in several diseases. The limitations of these treatments and ongoing challenges in the field are also discussed while shedding light on the ethical and regulatory challenges in translating autologous stem cellbased interventions, into safe and effective therapies.

Proven and unproven cell therapies – what we have learned so far?

“…From just a snapshot review, it is evident that though the number of clinical trials has continued to grow over the last decade, exceeding 1000 trials worldwide in 2019, [5, 39, 40] the number of therapies that has gained authorization by regulatory bodies for application to patients outside of clinical trials is still very small, and this is truly because of the complexities of therapy development due not only to purely scientific and technical aspects but also to regulatory ones. We are still on the journey of learning.…”

“…Regenerative medicine is rapidly becoming the next big thing in health care with the particular aim of repairing and possibly replacing diseased cells, tissues or organs and eventually retrieving normal function. Fortunately, the prospect of regenerative medicine as an alternative to conventional drug‐based therapies is becoming a tangible reality by the day owing to the vigorous commitment of the research communities in studying the potential applications across a wide range of diseases like neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes, among many others [5].…”

Stem Cell-Based Disease Modeling and Cell Therapy

“…Stem cell-based therapies are defined as any treatment for a disease or a medical condition that fundamentally involves the use of any type of viable human stem cells including ESCs, iPSCs, and adult stem cells for autologous and allogeneic therapies. Emerging evidence of stem cell-based therapeutic effects from preclinical and clinical studies suggest that regenerative strategies may one day become a treatment for a wide range of vexing diseases [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. The current progress of therapies using various stem cells such as MSCs (e.g., ADSCs and BM-MSCs), urine-derived stem cells, iPSCs, and spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are described and discussed in this Special Issue.…”

Nanoparticles for Stem Cell Tracking and the Potential Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases

“…In the medical world, stem cell-based therapies have emerged and expanded as a potentially promising therapeutic treatment (Heslop et al, 2015). In such a treatment process, stem cells, possessing properties of self-renewal and potency, play a significant role, and under appropriate conditions, these cells can be differentiated into a variety of cells (Srivastava and Ivey, 2006;Maumus et al, 2011;Hao et al, 2014;Aly, 2020). Compared with direct transplantation of tissue or organ for patients, stem cell-based therapies are more promising and potential because these cells can be feasibly and readily obtained avoiding donor shortage and immune incompatibility (Diekman and Guilak, 2013;Lilly et al, 2016).…”