Advanced Therapy with Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Knee Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: Advanced cell therapies emerged as promising candidates for treatment of knee articular diseases, but robust evidence regarding their clinical applicability is still lacking.

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of advanced mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) therapy for knee osteoarthritis (OA) and chondral lesions.

Methods: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials conducted in accordance with Cochrane Handbook and reported following PRISMA checklist. GRADE approach was used for assessing the evidence certainty.

Results: 25 randomized controlled trials that enrolled 1048 participants were included. Meta-analyses data showed that, compared to viscosupplementation (VS), advanced MSC therapy resulted in a 1.91 lower pain VAS score (95 % CI -3.23 to -0.59; p < 0.00001) for the treatment of knee OA after 12 months. Compared to placebo, the difference was 0.99 lower pain VAS points (95 % CI -1.94 to -0.03; p = 0.76). According to the GRADE approach, the evidence was very uncertain for both comparisons. By excluding studies with high risk of bias, there was a similar size of effect (VAS MD -1.54, 95 % CI -2.09 to -0.98; p = 0.70) with improved (moderate) certainty of evidence, suggesting that MSC therapy probably reduces pain slightly better than VS. Regarding serious adverse events, there was no difference from advanced MSC therapy to placebo or to VS, with very uncertain evidence.

Conclusion: Advanced MSC therapy resulted in lower pain compared to placebo or VS for the treatment of knee OA after 12 months, with no difference in adverse events. However, the evidence was considered uncertain.

The Translational Potential Of This Article: Currently, there is a lack of studies with good methodological structure aiming to evaluate the real clinical impact of advanced cell therapy for knee OA. The present study was well structured and conducted, with Risk of Bias, GRADE certainty assessment and sensitivity analysis. It explores the translational aspect of the benefits and safety of MSC compared with placebo and gold-standard therapy to give practitioners and researchers support to expand this therapy in their practice.

Prospero Registration Number: CRD42020158173. Access at https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=158173.