Stem cell therapy may halt osteoarthritis progression

Stem cell therapy is back under the spotlight as a potential treatment for osteoarthritis, thanks to research published in Cell Transplantation. A team from Taiwan has found that mobilising blood stem cells before injecting them into the body stimulated bone marrow to produce its own stem cells, which led to the inhibition of osteoarthritis progression.
So far the research has only been on mice and the potential long-term side effects are not certain. But it is a key area of research in the field.
“Further studies are required to determine whether this approach is likely to be effective in humans, but it is promising,” concludes said study lead author Dr Shih-Chieh Hung.
To read the original research click here.