Optimal transplantation strategies for stem cell treatment in premature ovarian failure: a network meta-analysis

The incidence of POF has increasingly affected younger individuals in recent years, and stem cell therapy has gradually been incorporated in clinical practice. Given the wide variety of stem cell sources, there are inherent differences in their biological characteristics and functions. This article compares the efficacy of stem cells from different sources in the treatment of premature ovarian failure in an animal model, and provides a basis for their clinical application.

A search was conducted for studies on stem cell therapy for POF animal models in PubMed, Cochrane Library, CBM, EMbase, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and the time limit for searching was from the date of the establishment of the respective databases to 2024-12-31. After screening the literature, two researchers independently extracted and analyzed the data. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the SYRCLE Animal Experimentation Risk of Bias Assessment Scale. The main outcome measures included estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, and the number of follicles at each level. After assessing the risk of bias in the included studies, a network meta-analysis, plotting, and tabulation were performed using Stata 15.0 software.

Thirty-three animal studies involving 877 experimental mice were finally included. The overall quality of the literature was considered medium. The results suggest that four stem cell therapies--UC-MSCs, AD-MSCs, HuMenSCs and OGSCs, may be the four most efficacious in the treatment of POF; and UC-MSCs may show superior therapeutic advantage in increasing the number of follicles. When comparing transplantation routes, Tail Vein Injection and Intraovarian Injection may have higher efficacy compared to other routes of administration.

This study systematically explores the therapeutic strategies for POF treatment using stem cell therapy. Further research is necessary to identify the optimal transplantation strategy and to advance both animal experiments and clinical research by improving and standardizing the design, implementation, and reporting of such studies.