Mesenchymal stem cells are a type of adult stem cells that can be obtained from the umbilical cord, placenta, bone marrow, adipose tissue, pulp of baby teeth, umbilical cord blood, etc. Mesenchymal stem cells can give rise to new blood vessels, cartilage, bone, and other connective tissue structures. In addition to their regenerative effects, mesenchymal stem cells are characterized by a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect. Due to this, mesenchymal stem cells have been widely used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases in the last decade: systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and graft-versus-host disease. The latter is a common complication of donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, better known as bone marrow transplantation.
Recently, an important event took place in the global biotechnology industry – for the first time in history, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA officially approved the drug ryoncil, which contains donor mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow for the treatment of graft-versus-host disease. This is an important step towards the development and wider application of cell technologies and stem cell preparations in clinical practice. Previously, similar drugs were approved in Canada, the European Union, China, India, and South Korea (2010).
In Ukraine, clinical trials using stem cells from various populations have been conducted since 2008. In 2008, the Institute of Cell Therapy was one of the first to receive permission from the Coordination Center for Organ, Tissue, and Cell Transplantation of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to conduct clinical trials using stem cells. For almost 20 years, umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord, and placenta stem cell preparations produced by Cryobank have been successfully used in clinical trials in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, including chronic lower limb ischemia and ischemic cardiomyopathy, acute pancreatitis/pancreatonecrosis, viral hepatitis/liver cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, etc. (more information at the link https://csict.com.ua/rnd/about/research/).
Source:
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-mesenchymal-stromal-cell-therapy-treat-steroid-refractory-acute-graft-versus-host and data of the Association of cryobanks.
