Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Aug 26, 2021; 13(8): 1005-1029
Published online Aug 26, 2021. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i8.1005
Mesenchymal stem cells for enhancing biological healing after meniscal injuries
Hye Chang Rhim, Ok Hee Jeon, Seung-Beom Han, Ji Hoon Bae, Dong Won Suh, Ki-Mo Jang
Hye Chang Rhim, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, United States
Ok Hee Jeon, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 02841, Seoul, South Korea
Seung-Beom Han, Ki-Mo Jang, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 02841, Seoul, South Korea
Ji Hoon Bae, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 08308, Seoul, South Korea
Dong Won Suh, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Barunsesang Hospital, Seongnam 13497, South Korea
Author contributions: Jang KM and Rhim HC wrote the paper; Jeon OH, Han SB and Suh DW performed data collection and analysis; Jang KM, Jeon OH, Bae JH, and Han SB performed review and editing.
Supported by Technology Innovation Program (or Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea), No. 20003688.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
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: Ki-Mo Jang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Doctor, Staff Physician, Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, 73 Inchon-Ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Seoul, South Korea. kimo98@hanmail.net
Received: February 28, 2021
Peer-review started: February 28, 2021
First decision: April 19, 2021
Revised: May 2, 2021
Accepted: July 15, 2021
Article in press: July 15, 2021
Published online: August 26, 2021
Processing time: 172 Days and 20.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The meniscus is important for maintaining normal knee joint function and should be preserved as much as possible to avoid rapid degeneration of the knee joint. Because the intrinsic meniscal healing potential is limited, an efficient repair method is necessary. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown promising results in recent preclinical and clinical studies. Further investigations for safe and efficient cell sources and scaffolds are necessary to validate safety and efficacy of MSC-based approaches for enhanced meniscal healing.