Review
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World J Stem Cells. Apr 26, 2023; 15(4): 196-208
Published online Apr 26, 2023. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i4.196
Mechanisms of analgesic effect of mesenchymal stem cells in osteoarthritis pain
Fatimah Almahasneh, Ejlal Abu-El-Rub, Ramada R Khasawneh
Fatimah Almahasneh, Ejlal Abu-El-Rub, Ramada R Khasawneh, Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine -Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, Jordan
Author contributions: Almahasneh F, and Abu-El-Rub E conceptualized the review subtopics; Almahasneh F, Abu-El-Rub E, and Khasawneh RR collected the literature used to write the review and drafted the manuscript; Almahasneh F, and Abu-El-Rub E revised and formatted the content of the manuscript and verified spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ejlal Abu-El-Rub, PhD, Assistant Professor, Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine -Yarmouk University, Irbid-Shafiq Irshidat Street, Irbid 21163, Jordan. ejlal.abuelrub@yu.edu.jo
Received: December 28, 2022
Peer-review started: December 28, 2022
First decision: January 9, 2023
Revised: January 25, 2023
Accepted: March 27, 2023
Article in press: March 27, 2023
Published online: April 26, 2023
Processing time: 118 Days and 14.9 Hours
Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease, and it is a major cause of pain, disability and health burden. Pain is the most common and bothersome presentation of OA, but its treatment is still suboptimal, due to the short-term action of employed analgesics and their poor adverse effect profile. Due to their regenerative and anti-inflammatory properties, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been extensively investigated as a potential therapy for OA, and numerous preclinical and clinical studies found a significant improvement in joint pathology and function, pain scores and/or quality of life after administration of MSCs. Only a limited number of studies, however, addressed pain control as the primary end-point or investigated the potential mechanisms of analgesia induced by MSCs. In this paper, we review the evidence reported in literature that support the analgesic action of MSCs in OA, and we summarize the potential mechanisms of these antinociceptive effects.

Keywords: Osteoarthritis; Pain; Inflammation; Mesenchymal stem cells; Regeneration; Analgesic mechanisms

Core Tip: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease, and it is a major cause of pain, disability and economic burden. Pain is the most common and bothersome presentation of OA, but its treatment is still suboptimal, which highlights the need for new analgesic agents for OA. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been extensively investigated as a potential therapy for OA due to their regenerative and anti-inflammatory properties. The administration of MSCs resulted in significant improvement in joint pathology and function, pain scores and/or quality of life in numerous preclinical and clinical studies. Only a limited number of studies, however, addressed pain control as the primary end-point or investigated the potential mechanisms of analgesia induced by MSCs. So, this paper reviews literature for evidence of analgesic actions of MSCs in OA, and summarizes the potential mechanisms of these anti-nociceptive effects