Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic and progressive condition that significantly impacts quality of life, often causing persistent pain and reduced joint mobility. As conventional treatments mainly focus on symptom relief rather than tissue regeneration, innovative biological therapies have emerged to address the underlying damage in osteoarthritic joints.
A recent phase I clinical trial explored the safety of repeated intra-articular injections of mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical cord tissue (UC-MSCs) in individuals with knee OA classified as Kellgren-Lawrence grade 2 or 3.
The open-label, single-arm study involved 14 participants who received multiple UC-MSC injections and were monitored over a period of three months. The primary goal was to assess the occurrence of adverse events, while secondary outcomes included evaluations of pain, function, cartilage repair, and quality of life using validated clinical scales:
- VAS (Visual Analog Scale) for pain
- WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index)
- MOCART (Magnetic Resonance Observation of Cartilage Repair Tissue score)
- SF-12 (Quality of Life Survey)
Results from the study showed promising outcomes. No serious adverse effects were reported. Five out of fourteen participants (35.7%) experienced mild and transient events such as joint pain, swelling, numbness, or stiffness, all of which resolved spontaneously.
Clinically, all participants improved:
- VAS scores decreased from 6.0 to 3.5
- WOMAC scores from 26.0 to 8.5
- MOCART scores improved from 42.0 to 58.0
- SF-12 scores increased from 39.0 to 46.0
Based on these findings, the authors concluded that repeated intra-articular UC-MSC injections are safe and may temporarily improve symptoms associated with knee OA. Although the study was limited by its small sample size, lack of control group, and absence of statistical analysis, these initial results support the potential of stem cell-based therapies in osteoarthritis treatment and warrant further investigation in larger, controlled trials.
Reference: Ao Y, Duan J, Xiong N, et al. Repeated intra-articular injections of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells for knee osteoarthritis: a phase I, single-arm study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2023;24(1):488. Published 2023 Jun 13. doi:10.1186/s12891-023-06555-y