New findings suggest that current cell therapy approaches are not superior to a simple corticosteroid injection for the treatment of osteoarthritis, calling into question the role of existing cell therapies and highlighting the need for further research and development in this field.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Turner, L. et al. Safety and efficacy claims made by US businesses marketing purported stem cell treatments and exosome therapies. Regen. Med. 18, 781–793 (2023).
Mautner, K. et al. Cell-based versus corticosteroid injections for knee pain in osteoarthritis: a randomized phase 3 trial. Nat. Med. 29, 3120–3126 (2023).
Zahir, H. et al. In vitro responses to platelet-rich-plasma are associated with variable clinical outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Sci. Rep. 11, 11493 (2021).
Dell’Isola, A., Allan, R., Smith, S. L., Marreiros, S. S. & Steultjens, M. Identification of clinical phenotypes in knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review of the literature. BMC Musculoskelet. Disord. 17, 425 (2016).
Caplan, A. I. Mesenchymal stem cells: time to change the name! Stem Cells Transl. Med. 6, 1445–1451 (2017).
Kim, C. & Keating, A. Cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis: mesenchymal stromal cells. Gerontology 65, 294–298 (2019).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rodeo, S.A. Is cell therapy no better than steroid injection?. Nat Rev Rheumatol 20, 199–200 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-024-01082-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-024-01082-z
- Springer Nature Limited