Advances in Management of Spinal Cord Injury Using Stem Cell-derived Extracellular Vesicles: A Review Study

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is characterized by serious both motor and sensory disability of the limbs below the injured segment.

It is the most traumatic disorder among central nervous system (CNS) conditions which not only leads to psychological and physical harm to patients but also results in a dramatic loss in the life quality.

Many efforts have been developed to find a therapeutic approach for SCI; however, an effective treatment has not yet been found.

The lack of effective treatment approach and rehabilitation of SCI underscores the need to identify novel approaches.

Tissue engineering associated with stem cells has been recently introduced as an effective treatment approaches for traumatic SCI.

Although, low survival rates, immune rejection, cell dedifferentiation, and tumorigenicity have been addressed for tissue engineering.

Regenerative medicine is an interdisciplinary field developing and applying tissue engineering, stem cell (SC) therapy, and SC-derived extracellular vesicle therapy that aims to provide reliable and safe ways to replace injured tissues and organs.

The application of mesenchymal stem cells-derived extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) has recently attracted attention to improve central nervous system dysfunction such as SCI, mainly by promoting neurogenesis and angiogenesis.

METHODS: In this review article the latest information of SCI improvement using stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles published data in the Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct and Pub Med databases were collected.

RESULTS: The data collected show that MSC-EVs, including exosomes, alone or in combination with scaffolds can can regenerate the injured nerve in SCI.

CONCLUSION: This study summarizes the efficacy of MSC-EVs, including exosomes, alone or in combination with scaffolds in the treatment of SCI and then discusses the therapeutic outcomes observed in SCI experimental models following treatment with MSC-EVs alone or loaded on scaffolds in particular collagen-based scaffolds.

HIGHLIGHTS: The pathological process of SCI being very complex.

A complete effective strategy has yet to be found for treatment of SCI in human.

Exosomes derived-stem cells alone have great potential for the treatment of SCI.

Various biocompatible scaffolds are good drug carriers for SCI treatment.

Various biocompatible scaffolds are good carriers for exosomes.

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Human with spinal cord injury (SCI) show serious motor and sensory disability of the limbs.

Since there is no an effective treatment for SCI, researchers are trying to develop and find a new therapeutic approach for SCI.

CNS tissue engineering with various stem cells sources as well as their derived extracellular vesicle has been extensively attracted for providing reliable and safe approach for SCI treatment.

Extracellular vesicles are lipid bilayer membrane-enclosed organelles containing various biomolecules involved in a variety of complex intercellular communication systems.

They are released from all cell types into their surrounding environment and are important vehicles for paracrine The application of stem cells-derived extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) has recently attracted attention to improve central nervous system dysfunction such as SCI, mainly by promoting neurogenesis and angiogenesis.