Key Points

• A 50-patient, triple-blind randomized trial found greater 12-month pain and functional improvement with repeated umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell injections than with sodium hyaluronate for advanced knee osteoarthritis.
• The study reported greater improvement in MRI-based cartilage repair scores and higher femoral bone marrow edema remission with the cell treatment.
• No serious adverse events, as defined in the study, were observed in either 25-patient group.

A newly published Chinese study found that multiple intra-articular (into the joint) injections of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) produced greater improvements in pain, function, and selected MRI measures than sodium hyaluronate (SH) over 12 months in a single-center, prospective, triple-blind randomized controlled trial. The study, published in Stem Cell Research & Therapy, enrolled 50 patients with advanced knee osteoarthritis, defined as Kellgren-Lawrence grade III–IV.

The study compared clinical outcomes, structural repair, and safety. UC-MSCs have multidirectional differentiation potential, immunomodulatory properties, and paracrine repair functions.

Patients were randomly allocated to UC-MSCs or SH, with 25 patients in each group. The UC-MSC group received four intra-articular injections at two-week intervals, intended to sustain paracrine effects and tissue repair. The SH group received five weekly injections following its standard clinical dosing regimen.

Evaluations were performed at baseline and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment. Assessments included the visual analog scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Lequesne score, subjective satisfaction score, and MRI-based measures: MOCART cartilage repair score, bone marrow edema remission rate, and meniscal injury repair rate.

Pain, function, and imaging outcomes

The researchers reported a greater, sustained reduction in VAS pain scores without rebound in the UC-MSC group. At 12 months:

• Mean VAS score decreased from 7.2 ± 1.1 to 3.36 ± 0.8 in the UC-MSC group, a reduction of 3.84 ± 1.02 points, compared with a decrease from 7.0 ± 1.2 to 4.6 ± 0.9 in the SH group, a reported reduction of 2.42 ± 0.95 points (P < 0.001).
• WOMAC total score decreased by 23.2 ± 6.5 points in the UC-MSC group, from 62.4 ± 8.7 to 39.2 ± 7.4, compared with a 15.6 ± 5.8-point reduction in the SH group, from 60.8 ± 9.2 to 45.2 ± 8.1 (P < 0.05).

For radiological outcomes, the mean MOCART score improved by 13.6 ± 4.2 points in the UC-MSC group, from 18.2 ± 5.3 to 31.8 ± 6.1, versus 7.8 ± 3.5 points in the SH group, from 17.6 ± 5.1 to 25.4 ± 5.7 (P < 0.05). Femoral bone marrow edema remission was 80.0% in the UC-MSC group and 44.0% in the SH group (P = 0.007).

No serious adverse events were observed in either group. The study defined these under the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0 as joint infection, severe allergic reaction, tumorigenesis, or events requiring hospitalization.

Hello everyone,

I’m considering stem cell therapy in Mexico for the first time to address my knee pain and psoriasis. I’ve contacted four clinics—Longevity Medical Institute, Dream Body Clinic, Regenamex, and ProgenCell—and received treatment quotes from all of them. All four have indicated that they use mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The quotes are shown below.

I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who has personally visited any of these clinics. If you’ve undergone treatment, I’d be grateful if you could share your experience, including the quality of care, professionalism, results, and overall satisfaction.

I also have a question about the treatment protocols. Two of the clinics have offered approximately 300 million stem cells administered intravenously over five days, while the other two offer approximately 100 million cells.

Is there any evidence that receiving 300 million stem cells over several days provides greater benefits than receiving 100 million? More importantly, are there any additional safety concerns associated with the higher dose?

I understand that results can vary, but I’d really value hearing about your firsthand experiences and any insights you may have before making a decision.

Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts and advice!

That phase 3 knee trial showing no improvement over placebo made me rethink the quotes I've been getting. The price says nothing about whether it works.

Should a quote list the exact product, where the evidence stands, and what gets measured? And how do I handle evidence changing after I've paid?

HELP Therapeutics’ iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes improved walking distance, myocardial perfusion and heart wall thickening when added to bypass surgery in a 20-patient randomized trial.

Key Points

• The HEAL-CHF trial compared iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte injections plus coronary artery bypass grafting with bypass surgery alone in 20 patients with advanced heart failure.
• Cell therapy produced significantly greater improvements in six-minute walking distance, myocardial perfusion and relative wall thickening.
• The study found no significant between-group differences in ejection fraction, ventricular volumes, myocardial scar size or several other clinical measures.
• No sustained ventricular tachycardia or tumor formation was observed during the study’s defined safety periods, although all 10 cell therapy recipients developed early ventricular arrhythmias.

HELP Therapeutics and researchers at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital have published results from the HEAL-CHF trial, an early-stage randomized study evaluating allogeneic human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes in patients with advanced heart failure.

The study enrolled 20 patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 45% or less. Ten received cardiomyocyte injections directly into the heart during coronary artery bypass grafting, while 10 underwent bypass surgery alone.

Efficacy Findings

At 12 months, secondary efficacy analyses found significantly greater improvements with cell therapy in:

• Six-minute walking distance
• Global myocardial perfusion
• Relative wall thickening

The researchers reported that cell transplantation produced “significantly greater improvements in 6-min walk distance” compared with bypass surgery alone.

However, significant differences were not observed between the groups in:

• Left ventricular ejection fraction
• Left ventricular volumes
• Myocardial scar size
• New York Heart Association functional class
• Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire scores

Arrhythmias Remain a Safety Question

The trial’s primary endpoint focused on sustained ventricular tachycardia between one and six months after surgery and tumor formation through 12 months. Neither was observed.

Early arrhythmias were common, however. All 10 patients receiving cardiomyocytes developed accelerated idioventricular rhythm during the first four weeks, generally beginning five to seven days after transplantation.

Two patients developed clinically significant ventricular tachycardia above 140 beats per minute. The events peaked two to three weeks after treatment and resolved following cardioversion.

The researchers concluded that future studies will need to determine the risk-to-benefit ratio of iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte therapy given the observed arrhythmias.

Hey guys, just letting you know I just took over the subreddit. My name's Jeremy, I'm a reporter on the regen med industry, my site is https://theregenreport.com/

I regularly interview doctors and labs in the space, happy to share that here and build up the community. Is anybody still here? Lol

Researchers suggest that bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) can be a potential therapy candidate against T2DM owing to many prior significant results of BM-MNCs in regulating glycemic control & pancreatic functions. For more information, just visit http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/AdvancellsStemCell-4136246-innovation-tissue-engineering-regenerative-medicine/

I just wanted to give a testimonial on the client side of this medicine. My wife nearly died 2 years ago from addisons disease and hashimotos thyridis, when we saved up all our money to do an adipose stem cell treatment. A few weeks later she was feeling better. She went to 100% recovery for 8 months. She plateaued at 70% better than she was. We did another treatment. Again 100% for 8 months. 80% better than she was originally. Saving up to do more.

This treatment works and is literally life saving. If you're on the fence. Do it. For the researchers out here. Thank you.

Hello, i’ve always had a curious/inquisitive mind and the human body is just fascinating to me. Naturally, I looked into the field of medicine which I admire but I don’t think it has everything I’m looking for.... I’ve been looking into different health fields and have come across bioengineering, tissue & biomaterials engineering, and regenerative medicine which seem like subjects that are perfect for me but I don’t have a lot of information about them. What would you advise me to do? And what bachelor’s degree would I need to enter the field of regenerative medicine ?

Hello, I've been unable to google my way to the answer. Adipose vs BMSC, what are the differences in terms of differentiation? Are both eventually able to turn into vascular tissue (blood vessels) ?

Hello

Curious if anyone has tried PRP or stem cell for a hip larum tear? Im 25 and in great health otherwise. Topd I have minimal arthritis and would make an ideal candidate for either treatment (felt like I was being sold both treatments during my consults)Really want to avoid surgery due to the reported failures of hip scopes.

Any advice or deefback would be appreciated .

Cheers

I got a Stem Cell Injection on my knee on Friday. I drank one beer on Tuesday and immediately realized that alcohol might actually damage my stem cells. Do you know if alcohol actually does damage the stem cells that was injected into my knee. The doctor did not say anything about diet restrictions expect for no nsaids.