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REVIEW article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Cell and Gene Therapy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1591400
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Stem Cell Engineering: Paving the Way for Regenerative MedicineView all 3 articles
Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Extracellular Vesicles: New Therapies for Cartilage Repair
Provisionally accepted- 1Department of Orthopedics, Affiliated Nantong Hospital 3 of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China
- 2Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration of Jiangsu and Ministry of Education and Co-Innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China
- 3School of Medicine, Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
- 4Engineering Research Center of Integration and Application of Digital Learning Technology, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100034, China
- 5Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
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Cartilage is crucial for joints, and its damage can lead to pain and functional impairment, causing financial burden to patients. Due to its weak self-repair, cartilage injury control is a research focus. Cartilage injury naturally with age, but mechanical trauma, lifestyle factors and certain genetic abnormalities can increase the likelihood of symptomatic disease progression. Current treatments for cartilage injury include pharmacological and surgical interventions, but these lack the ability to stop the progression of disease and restore the regeneration of the cartilage.Biological therapies have been evaluated but show varying degrees of efficacy in cartilage regeneration long-term.The mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy attracts attention as it's easily harvested and expanded. Once thought to repair via differentiation, MSCs are now known to secrete extracellular vesicles (EVs) paracrinely. These EVs, rich in bioactive molecules, enable cell communication, boost growth factor secretion, regulate the synthesis and degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM), and modulate inflammation, vital for cartilage repair. However, further research and clinical validation are still required for the application of MSC and MSC-EVs. This review highlights the current state of research on the use of MSC and MSC-EVs in the treatment of cartilage injury. It is hoped that the review in this paper will provide valuable references and inspiration for future researchers in therapeutic studies of cartilage repair.
Keywords: Mesenchymal Stem Cells, extracellular vesicles, Cartilage injury, Cartilage regeneration, Regenerative therapy
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 08 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Yang, Wang, Ji, Qian, Qiao, Shi and Cong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yusen Qiao, Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
Junfeng Shi, Department of Orthopedics, Affiliated Nantong Hospital 3 of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China
Meng Cong, Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration of Jiangsu and Ministry of Education and Co-Innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.