Mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of ischemic stroke

Abstract

Over the past three decades, multiple preclinical studies have been conducted and have shown that transplantation of the mesenchymal stem has a pronounced positive effect in animals with experimental stroke. On the base of the promising results of the preclinical studies several clinical trials with the mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in stroke patients have also been conducted. In this review we presented and analyzed the results of completed clinical trials dedicated to the mesenchymal stem cells transplantation in patients with ischemic stroke. According to obtained results it can be concluded that transplantation of the mesenchymal stem cells is safe and feasible from an economic and medical-biological point of view. For further implementation of this promising approach into the clinical practice randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical trials on a large sample of patients and with the optimize cell transplantation protocols and patients’ inclusion criteria are needed. In this review we also discuss possible strategies to enhance the effectiveness of cell therapy with the use of the mesenchymal stem cells.