A pilot study of umbilical cord‐derived mesenchymal stem cell transfusion in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis

Abstract

Background and Aim: Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) treatment is an effective medical therapy for patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC); however, 40% of PBC patients show an incomplete response to the UDCA therapy. This study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell (UC-MSC) transfusion in PBC patients with an incomplete response to UDCA. Methods: We conducted a single-arm trial that included seven PBC patients with a suboptimal response to UDCA treatment. UC-MSCs were first cultured, and then 0.5 ¥ 10

Status of and candidates for cell therapy in liver cirrhosis: overcoming the “point of no return” in advanced liver cirrhosis

“…MSCs can be obtained from not only bone marrow but also medical wastes such as adipose tissue [57,58], umbilical tissue [59][60][61][62], and dental pulp [63]. MSCs are positive for the common markers CD73, CD90, and CD105; however, they are negative for the endothelial marker CD31 and hematopoietic marker CD45 [56,64].…”

“…In the field of liver cirrhosis, as shown in Table 1, many autologous [70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83] and four allogeneic [59][60][61][62] MSC therapies involving a variety of tissue origins and administration routes have been reported. Although details regarding the mechanisms of therapeutic effects in humans remain unclear, most studies have reported favorable effects with improvement in MELD scores, Child-Pugh scores, and some serum markers such as albumin and bilirubin.…”

Stem Cell Therapy: Current Applications and Potential for Urology

“…In the trials of liver fibrosis, numerous clinical studies have reported the effectiveness of MSCs in reducing liver fibrosis and improving liver function [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Nonetheless, stem cell therapy of pulmonary fibrosis has seen very little of translation.…”

Adult Stem Cell Therapy in Liver Cirrhosis Management: Current Practices and Future Perspectives

“…At the end of 48 weeks post-transplantation, the liver function was increased in all patients. This observation was based on the significant improvement in serum alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyltransferase levels as compared to the baseline report [26].…”

“…Despite their hypoimmunogenic and regenerative properties, not many clinical studies have been conducted to demonstrate the clinical utility of allogeneic MSC in treating liver cirrhosis patients [25]. However, a recent clinical study suggests that umbilical cord-derived MSC transplantation has the potential to improve liver function without any noticeable side-effects in patients [26].…”