Therapeutic applications of mesenchymal stem cells: A comprehensive review.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are one of the most common types of adult stem cells. While MSCs are traditionally isolated from bone marrow, over the last few years, they have also been found in many other adult tissues such as liver, cord blood, placenta, dental pulp and adipose tissue. They have been investigated as a marvelous cell source for tissue regeneration and suggested as a therapy in non-autologous application, because of lack of MHC class II expression. For the past several decades, furthermore, MSCs show promise as a therapeutic strategy in medicine. Many advantages such as self-renewal, in vitro proliferation, rapid cell doubling capacity, easy of GMP manufacturing, antifibrotic, anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammation, immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive effects, and paracrine nature have been demonstrated in various pre-clinical studies and clinical evidences. The ability of MSCs to differentiate into different cell lineages, in addition to the lack of ethical problems in comparison with embryonic stem cells as well as induced Pluripotent Stem cells (iPSCs), have attracted much attention. Due to their unique features, various medical indications such as therapeutic medicine, tissue engineering, and cell therapy have allowed the development and flourishment of MSCs. The various different clinical trials were performed using MSCs for the treatment of a long list of diseases and disorders. Results of these clinical studies have demonstrated the capability of MSCs to be used for the treatment of dermatological, musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, gastroenterological and urological conditions, etc.