Cell therapy is the most promising technique for degenerative intervertebral disc repair / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Current treatmemt strategy cannot efficiently relieve or reverse the disk degeneration, and neither surgical treatment nor nonsurgical treatment has gained satisfactory long-term effect. Therefore, more and more researches have focused on the cell therapy. OBJECTIVE: To explore the present states and application prospect of cell therapy, especially stem cells for degenerative intervertebral disc repair.METHODS: A computer-based search for related articles in PubMed database published between January 2011 and January 2016 using the English keywords of stem cell, intervertebral disk degeneration. Literatures addressing cell therapy for degenerative intervertebral disc repair were selected, and the articles published lately or original researches in authoritative journals were preferred.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 205 articles were selected firstly, and 50 eligible articles were enrolled finally in accordance with the inclusion criteria. The mixtures of stem cells and carrier are injected into the degenerative intervertebral disk, to repair or displace abnormal cells. This strategy has been accepted by many researchers, and considered as a promising treatment. However, there is little evidence about the safety of clinical treatment with cell therapy, which still needs to be explored in depth.