The use of canine mesenchymal stem cells for the autologous treatment of osteoarthritis.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold enormous potential for cell-based therapy in the treatment of various diseases, particularly those which currently cannot be cured and result in poor outcomes or invasive surgery. Here we present results of the application of autologous, culture-expanded, adipose tissue (AT)-derived MSCs for the osteoarthritis (OA) treatment of 10 canine patients. The stemness of isolated cells has been confirmed by their ability to differentiate into osteo- and chondrocytic lineages. The clinical effect of a single injection of ATMSCs into the symptomatic joints was evaluated by a veterinarian for five disabilities characteristic of OA at 30, 60 and 90 days after treatment, which has been designated as the initial evaluation period. Functional outcomes for all analysed characteristics improved significantly at the end of this evaluation compared with the baseline. In addition, for 5 of these 10 patients, an extended follow-up study was performed from 1 to 4 years after the initial evaluation period. We detected long-lasting positive effects on two out of five analysed characteristics. The results demonstrate that the use of autologous AT-MSCs is a successful approach to canine OA therapy.