Research Status of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in LiverTransplantation

摘要

Liver transplantation has been deemed the best choice for end-stage liver diseasepatients but immune rejection after surgery is still a serious problem. Patients have totake immunosuppressive drugs for a long time after liver transplantation, and this oftenleads to many side effects. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) gradually became of interest toresearchers because of their powerful immunomodulatory effects. In the past, a largenumber of in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated the great potential of MSCs forparticipation in posttransplant immunomodulation. In addition, MSCs also have propertiesthat may potentially benefit patients undergoing liver transplantation. This article aimsto provide an overview of the current understanding of the immunomodulation achieved bythe application of MSCs in liver transplantation, to discuss the problems that may beencountered when using MSCs in clinical practice, and to describe some of the underlyingcapabilities of MSCs in liver transplantation. Cell–cell contact, soluble molecules, andexosomes have been suggested to be critical approaches to MSCs’ immunoregulation in vitro;however, the exact mechanism, especially in vivo, is still unclear. In recent years, theclinical safety of MSCs has been proven by a series of clinical trials. The obstacles tothe clinical application of MSCs are decreasing, but large sample clinical trialsinvolving MSCs are still needed to further study their clinical effects.