Narrative review of stem cell therapy for ischemic brain injury

Ischemic brain injury is a common cause of long-term neurological deficits in children as well as adults, and no efficient treatments could reverse the sequelae in clinic till now. Stem cells have the capacity of self-renewal and multilineage differentiation. The therapeutic efficacy of stem cell transplantation for ischemic brain injury have been tested for many years. The grafts could survive and mature in the ischemic brain environment. Stem cell transplantation could improve functional recovery of ischemic brain injury models in pre-clinical trials. The potential mechanisms included cell replacement, release of neurotrophic and anti-inflammatory factors, immunoregulation as well as activation of endogenous neurogenesis. Besides, many clinical trials were conducted and some of trials already had preliminary results. From the current published data, cell transplantation for clinical application is safe and feasible. No severe adverse events and tumorigenesis were reported. While the therapeutic efficacy of stem cell therapy in clinic still needs more evidences. In this review, we overviewed the studies about stem cell therapy for ischemic brain injury. Different types of stem cells used for transplantation as well as the therapeutic mechanisms were discussed in detail. The related pre-clinical and clinical trials were summarized into two separate tables. In addition, we also discussed the unsolved problems and concerns about stem cell therapy for ischemic brain injury that need to be overcome before clinic transformation.