Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32913710›Full record

ReviewJournal of orthopaedic translation2020

Mesenchymal stem cells in knee osteoarthritis treatment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Yancheng Song, Junhui Zhang, Hualiang Xu, Zhujian Lin, Hong Chang, Wei Liu, Ling Kong

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of orthopaedic translation, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
84citing papers in PubMed, 9 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

84 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  3. Stem cell injections for osteoarthritis of the knee.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025
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24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Yancheng SongDepartment of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
Junhui ZhangDepartment of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
Hualiang XuDepartment of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
Zhujian LinDepartment of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
Hong ChangDepartment of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
Wei LiuDepartment of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
Ling KongDepartment of Basic Research & International Cooperation, Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Stem cells are considered to be one of the greatest potential treatments to cure degenerative diseases. Stem cells injection for knee osteoarthritis (OA) is still a relatively new treatment and has not yet gained popularity. So, the effectiveness, safety and potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for knee OA treatment is worthy to be explored. Explore the effectiveness and safety of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. We collected clinical trials using MSCs as treatment for knee OA (before April 2019), including randomized controlled trials (RCTs), retrospective studies and cohort studies. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and the ClinicalTrials.gov with keywords (Mesenchymal stem cells [MSCs], Knee osteoarthritis, Effectiveness and Safety), and then performed a systematic review and cumulative metaanalysis of all RCTs and retrospective comparative studies. To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of MSC in knee OA treatment, we applied visual analog scale score, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteo-arthritis Index and adverse events. We included 15 RCTs, two retrospective studies and two cohort studies including a total of 584 knee OA patients in this study. We demonstrated that MSC treatment could significantly decrease visual analog scale in a 12-month follow-up study compared with controls (p < 0.001). MSC therapy also showed significant decreases in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores after the 6-month follow-up (p < 0.001). MSC therapy showed no difference compared with controls (p > 0.05) in adverse events. We suggest that MSC therapy could serve as an effective and safe therapy for clinical application in OA treatment. THE TRANSLATIONAL POTENTIAL OF THIS ARTICLE: This study provided the best available evidence and a wider perspective to MSCs application in the management of knee OA. MSCs therapy will have great translational potential in the clinical treatment of various degenerative diseases once optimum formula and explicit target population are identified.

Indexed as

Knee osteoarthritisMesenchymal stem cellsMeta-analysis

Identifiers

PMID32913710
PMCPMC7452318

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.