Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells for Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disorder involving joint pathogenesis, cartilage and bone deformities, along with systemic comorbidities, affecting over 75 million people worldwide. At present there is no cure for RA and the current treatment modalities utilized have limitations and side effects. Over the last decades, mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), both autologous and allogenic, have emerged as potential safe and effective alternatives. In this review, we highlighted the safety and efficacy of both autologous as well as allogenic MSCs to treat RA based on recently published clinical studies. These studies demonstrated that use of autologous or allogenic MSCs is safe and laid the foundation for multi-center prospective open label non-randomized trials and double blinded randomized controlled trials with larger sample size to further establish the safety and efficacy of these MSCs to alleviate symptoms of RA, thereby, ultimately justifying their clinical use.