A study released in Stem Cells Translational Medicine has confirmed the safety of a novel type of cellular therapy for knee pain caused by osteoarthritis. Conducted by a multi-institutional team of researchers in Japan who had developed the new therapy, the study was designed to confirm that their treatment—which involves transplanting the patient’s own mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into the affected knee—did not cause tumors.
The results showed that five years after transplantation, osteoarthritis-related tears to the knee meniscus had healed and, just as importantly, none of the patients experienced any serious side effects from the treatment. The meniscus is a crescent-shaped cartilage in the knee joint that plays a role in shock absorption. Age-related damage to the meniscus often leads to the progression of osteoarthritis of the knee.
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