Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Dec 26, 2022; 14(12): 851-867
Published online Dec 26, 2022. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v14.i12.851
Biomaterial application strategies to enhance stem cell-based therapy for ischemic stroke
Asmaa’ Mohd Satar, Farah Amna Othman, Suat Cheng Tan
Asmaa’ Mohd Satar, Farah Amna Othman, Suat Cheng Tan, School of Health Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan 16150, Malaysia
Author contributions: Tan SC designed the research; Mohd Satar A and Othman FA performed the literature review and analysis; All authors contributed to writing of the paper and gave approval of the final version.
Supported by the Universiti Sains Malaysia Research University Individual Grant, No. 1001/PPSK/8012273.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare having no conflicts of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Suat Cheng Tan, PhD, Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan 16150, Malaysia. tansc@usm.my
Received: September 11, 2022
Peer-review started: September 11, 2022
First decision: October 20, 2022
Revised: October 29, 2022
Accepted: December 6, 2022
Article in press: December 6, 2022
Published online: December 26, 2022
Processing time: 100 Days and 23.1 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Low cell survival after transplantation has emerged as the biggest challenge of stem cell-based therapies for ischemic stroke in the clinical setting. Thus, biomaterials have been explored as a potential approach to provide a supportable cellular microenvironment or functional modification on the stem cells to optimize their reparative roles in injured tissues or organs.

Research motivation

Ischemic stroke remains a significant health issue globally. Stem/progenitor cells as regenerative treatment for stroke is practicable and beneficial for stroke patients, especially those in the chronic phase who could not be cured by any other means of currently available treatments.

Research objectives

This systematic review aimed to collect and present the current knowledge on state-of-art functional biomaterials that have been developed to enhance the therapeutic potential of stem cell-based treatments for ischemic stroke and to provide detailed insights of the mechanisms underlying these biomaterial-based approaches.

Research methods

Publications indexed in the PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus literature databases were searched using the keywords “biomaterial” AND “ischemic stroke” AND “stem cells” OR “progenitor cells” OR “undifferentiated cells” to identify topically-relevant articles published in English during the years of 2011 to 2022. The systematic search was conducted up to September 30, 2022.

Research results

Ultimately, 19 types of biomaterials were identified that modify seven major stem/progenitor cell types to enhance their therapeutic potential for ischemic stroke.

Research conclusions

Biomaterials can modify stem cells to enhance their migration capacity to a targeted area of injury, increase their retention rate, promote the secretion of important cytokines to support a reparative mechanism, and provide clearer understanding of the fate of transplanted cells via in vivo tracking. Biomaterials can enhance stem cell-based therapy for ischemic stroke.

Research perspectives

It is crucial to study and define the mechanisms of state-of-art functional biomaterial-based approaches to maximize the therapeutic potential of stem cell-based treatments for ischemic stroke. Findings from future in-depth clinical investigations are expected to support the translation of this therapy into clinical application. Meta-analyses can be performed to generate a quantitative estimate of the effectiveness of the intervention.