Published online Aug 26, 2022. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v14.i8.658
Peer-review started: March 15, 2022
First decision: April 19, 2022
Revised: April 27, 2022
Accepted: July 26, 2022
Article in press: July 26, 2022
Published online: August 26, 2022
Processing time: 163 Days and 16.9 Hours
Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) can be applied to both hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic diseases; nonetheless, it still comes with a number of challenges and limitations that contribute to treatment failure. Bearing this in mind, a possible way to increase the success rate of BMT would be cotransplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to improve the bone marrow niche and secrete molecules that enhance the hematopoietic engraftment.
To analyze HSC and MSC characteristics and their interactions through cotransplantation in murine models.
We searched for original articles indexed in PubMed and Scopus during the last decade that used HSC and MSC cotransplantation and in vivo BMT in animal models while evaluating cell engraftment. We excluded in vitro studies or studies that involved graft versus host disease or other hematological diseases and publications in languages other than English. In PubMed, we initially identified 555 articles and after selection, only 12 were chosen. In Scopus, 2010 were identified, and six were left after the screening and eligibility process.
Of the 2565 articles found in the databases, only 18 original studies met the eligibility criteria. HSC distribution by source showed similar ratios, with human umbilical cord blood or animal bone marrow being administered mainly with a dose of 1 × 107 cells by intravenous or intrabone routes. However, MSCs had a high prevalence of human donors with a variety of sources (umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, tonsil, adipose tissue or fetal lung), using a lower dose, mainly 106 cells and ranging 104 to 1.5 × 107 cells, utilizing the same routes. MSCs were characterized prior to administration in almost every experiment. The recipient used was mostly immunodeficient mice submitted to low-dose irradiation or chemotherapy. The main technique of engraftment for HSC and MSC cotransplantation evaluation was chimerism, followed by hematopoietic reconstitution and survival analysis. Besides the engraftment, homing and cellularity were also evaluated in some studies.
The preclinical findings validate the potential of MSCs to enable HSC engraftment in vivo in both xenogeneic and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation animal models, in the absence of toxicity.
Core Tip: The systematic review provided a current view on the characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) cotransplantation to achieve successful engraftment and improve hematopoietic reconstitution. The studies demonstrated a diversity in experimental designs and MSC isolation and characterization protocols; however, the lack of standardization in MSC use makes translation to clinical practice more difficult.