Secretome of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells as a Possible Innovative Therapeutic Tool in Facial Nerve Injury Treatment

Abstract

Facial nerve palsy is a serious neurological condition that strongly affects patient everyday life. Standard treatments provide insufficient improvement and are burdened with the risk of severe complications, e.g., facial synkinesis. Mesenchymal stromal cell-based therapies are a novel and extensively developed field which offers new treatment approaches with promising results in regards to the nervous tissue regeneration. The potential of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) to aid the regeneration of damaged nerves has been demonstrated in several preclinical models, as well as in several clinical trials. However, therapies based on cell transplantation are difficult to standardize in the manner similar to that of routine clinical practices. On the other hand, treatments based on mesenchymal stromal cell secretome harness the proregenerative features of mesenchymal stromal cells but relay on a product with measurable parameters that can be put through standardization procedures and deliver a fully controllable end-product. Utilization of mesenchymal stromal cell secretome allows the controlled dosage and standardization of the components to maximize the therapeutic potential and ensure safety of the end-product.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell‐Derived Mitochondria Enhance Extracellular Matrix‐Derived Grafts for the Repair of Nerve Defect

“…However, increasing evidence has suggested that the survival rate and efficiency of MSCs in differentiating into target cells after transplantation are generally too low to match the observed beneficial reparative effects. [ 14 ] Recent and compelling evidence now suggests that stem cells exert their effects indirectly through the paracrine release of cell‐active factors (e.g., growth factors) [ 15 ] and vesicles (e.g., exosomes) [ 16 ] in tissue repair. [ 17 ] The advancement of “cell‐free therapies” derived from stem cells has emerged as a promising approach, providing reparative effects comparable to stem cell therapies.…”