Research progress and challenge of the stem cell therapy for intervertebral disc regeneration / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Interverbral disc degeneration (IDD) is the major cause of low back pain, which is considered as the pathological basis of intervertebral disc herniation and other degenerative diseases that severely affect the patients' quality of life. At present, neither conservative treatment nor operative treatment can reverse or inhibit the pathological development of IDD.OBJECTIVE: To summarize the progress of stem cell therapy for IDD, and to further analyze its challenge and potential solutions.METHODS: Relevant studies in PubMed database published before September 2016 were retrieved. Studies about stem cell therapy in IDD in vitro and vivo as well clinical trials were enrolled to analyze its existing problems.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Stem cell therapy provides a new strategy for IDD treatment. So far, a large number of studies in vitro and vivo as well as clinical trials have reported the remarkable effect of stem cell therapy. (2) However, problems such as how to deal with microenvironment of interverbral disc, choose proper stem cells and master indications will be a challenge in the future.