Sridhar GR, Anne S, Gumpeny L, Narasimhadevara SSN. Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in diabetes mellitus. World J Clin Cases 2026; 14(23): 121196 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.121196]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Gumpeny R Sridhar, MD, DM, FACE, FRCP, Chief, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Endocrine and Diabetes Centre, 15-12-15 Krishnanagar, Visakhapatnam 530002, India. sridharvizag@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
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review-article
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2026; 14(23): 121196 Published online Aug 16, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.121196
Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in diabetes mellitus
Gumpeny R Sridhar, Suresh Anne, Lakshmi Gumpeny, Sanjana S N Narasimhadevara
Gumpeny R Sridhar, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Endocrine and Diabetes Centre, Visakhapatnam 530002, India
Suresh Anne, Department of Allergy and Immunology, Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Center, Flint, MI 48507, United States
Lakshmi Gumpeny, Department of Internal Medicine, Gayatri Vidya Parishad Institute of Healthcare and Medical Technology, Visakhapatnam 530048, India
Sanjana S N Narasimhadevara, Department of Endocrinology, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, West Carson, CA 90745, United States
Author contributions: Sridhar GR, Anne S, Gumpeny L, and Narasimhadevara SSN contributed equally to the design of the manuscript, literature search and writing of the final version; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: Generative AI was not used in preparing the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Gumpeny R Sridhar, MD, DM, FACE, FRCP, Chief, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Endocrine and Diabetes Centre, 15-12-15 Krishnanagar, Visakhapatnam 530002, India. sridharvizag@gmail.com
Received: March 18, 2026 Revised: July 2, 2026 Accepted: July 6, 2026 Published online: August 16, 2026 Processing time: 147 Days and 9.2 Hours
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (type 1 diabetes mellitus and type 2 diabetes mellitus) results from a failure of pancreatic β cells at different velocities and time frames resulting insulin deficiency. Currently, management of type 1 diabetes mellitus relies on replacing insulin, without changing the natural course of progressive β cell loss. Stem cell therapy can prevent autoimmune destruction as well replenish pancreatic β cells. Among various sources, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) have the advantage of generating progenitor cells, greater immunosuppression, cell proliferation and clonality. Further they are less immunogenic. Practical advantages for their use include painless extraction and potential of long term storage. In this review we provide a brief of interventions available to prevent and slow down immune destruction of pancreatic β cell cells, and discuss evidence obtained from cell and animal studies, combined use with adjuvants, their potential on microvascular complications, human clinical trials, meta-analysis and umbrella reviews. We then discuss the limitations and challenges, and offer future perspectives. Currently, hUC-MSC is a treatment with promise. Further large randomized clinical trials with diverse populations, proper trial protocol with inclusion criteria, treatment methods and pre-defined outcome measures in the long term are necessary to bring hUC-MSC therapy into mainstream clinical use.
Core Tip: Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells have the potential to modify the course of diabetes mellitus, eventually leading to its possible cure. They regulate immune destruction of pancreatic β cells and can also regenerate them. Animal studies showed their effectiveness. Early human reports showed positive results. Larger long term human randomized clinical trials are needed to bring prospect to practice.
