Mesenchymal stromal cells for systemic sclerosis treatment

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare chronic autoimmune disease characterized by vasculopathy, dysregulation of innate and adaptive immune responses, progressive fibrosis. SSc remains an orphan disease, with high morbity mortality in patients. The mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) demonstrate vitro vivo pro-angiogenic, immuno-suppressive, anti-fibrotic properties appear as promising stem cell therapy type, that may target the key pathological features disease. This review aims to summarize acquired knowledge field :1) MSC definition functional properties, which vary according donor type (allogeneic or autologous), tissue sources (bone marrow, adipose umbilical cord) inflammatory micro-environment recipient; 2) preclinical studies various animal models , showed reduction skin lung fibrosis after infusion; 3) first clinical trials human, safety early efficacy results reported patients currently tested several ongoing trials.