title: Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Stroke: Challenges and Progress.
abstract: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and physical disability among adults. It has been 15 years since clinical trials of stem cell therapy in patients with stroke have been conducted using adult stem cells like mesenchymal stem cells and bone marrow mononuclear cells. Results of randomized controlled trials showed that adult stem cell therapy was safe but its efficacy was modest, underscoring the need for new stem cell therapy strategies. The primary limitations of current stem cell therapies include (a) the limited source of engraftable stem cells, (b) the presence of optimal time window for stem cell therapies, (c) inherited limitation of stem cells in terms of growth, trophic support, and differentiation potential, and (d) possible transplanted cell-mediated adverse effects, such as tumor formation. Here, we discuss recent advances that overcome these hurdles in adult stem cell therapy for stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Translational and Stem Cell Research Laboratory on Stroke, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Oh Young
authors.initials: OY
authors.lastname: Bang
authors.affiliation: Translational and Stem Cell Research Laboratory on Stroke, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Hee
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Seoul, Korea.|Medical Device Research Center, Research Institute for Future Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.affiliation: Translational and Stem Cell Research Laboratory on Stroke, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.|Stem cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Gyeong Joon
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Moon
keywords: Biomaterials; Mesenchymal stem cells; Stem cells; Stroke