Research progress and prospects of benefit-risk assessment methods for umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in the clinical treatment of spinal cord injury

Abstract

Over the past decade, we have witnessed the development of cell transplantation as a new strategy for repairing spinal cord injury (SCI). However, due to the complexity of the central nervous system (CNS), achieving successful clinical translation remains a significant challenge. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUMSCs) possess distinct advantages, such as easy collection, lack of ethical concerns, high self-renewal ability, multilineage differentiation potential, and immunomodulatory properties. hUMSCs are promising for regenerating the injured spinal cord to a significant extent. At the same time, for advancing SCI treatment, the appropriate benefit and risk evaluation methods play a pivotal role in determining the clinical applicability of treatment plans. Hence, this study discusses the advantages and risks of hUMSCs in SCI treatment across four dimensions—comprehensive evaluation of motor and sensory function, imaging, electrophysiology, and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function—aiming to improve the rationality of relevant clinical research and the feasibility of clinical translation.