Lu JS, Song CY, Cheng WJ, Wang KY. Mechanisms and challenges of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. World J Stem Cells 2025; 17(4): 102923 [DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i4.102923]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Kai-Yang Wang, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, No. 600 Yishan Road, Shanghai 200233, China. ortho_wang@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Cell Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Stem Cells. Apr 26, 2025; 17(4): 102923 Published online Apr 26, 2025. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i4.102923
Mechanisms and challenges of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis
Jing-Shun Lu, Chen-Yu Song, Wen-Jing Cheng, Kai-Yang Wang
Jing-Shun Lu, Wen-Jing Cheng, Department of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Yijishan Hospital, Wuhu 241000, Anhui Province, China
Chen-Yu Song, Kai-Yang Wang, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200233, China
Author contributions: Lu JS wrote and edited the manuscript; Song CY and Cheng WJ contributed to review and editing; Wang KY conceived, reviewed, and revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kai-Yang Wang, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, No. 600 Yishan Road, Shanghai 200233, China. ortho_wang@163.com
Received: November 4, 2024 Revised: February 22, 2025 Accepted: March 21, 2025 Published online: April 26, 2025 Processing time: 172 Days and 10.9 Hours
Abstract
In this editorial, we comment on the recent article by Xiao et al, focusing on their investigation into whether the therapeutic efficacy of serum-free human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differs from that of serum-containing human umbilical cord MSCs in a mouse model of knee osteoarthritis (OA). The incidence of OA has significantly increased in recent years, primarily owing to sports-related injuries or degenerative diseases. However, the regenerative capacity of articular cartilage remains limited, necessitating artificial joint replacement for patients with advanced OA to enhance the quality of life. MSCs have been widely used in the clinical treatment of OA owing to their multidirectional differentiation potential and immunomodulatory effects. The focus of this paper lies in elucidating the mechanism underlying MSC transplantation for the treatment of knee OA, while also addressing the challenges encountered in MSC therapy and outlining future directions.
Core Tip: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exhibit remarkable efficacy in the field of regenerative medicine and are considered to be the key cells for the repair and regeneration of cartilage. In this paper, we explore the clinical application of MSCs in the treatment of osteoarthritis and address the challenges associated with MSC therapy.
