Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells in Brain Injury

Dear Colleagues,

Brain injuries are a significant cause of disability and death in people worldwide. They affect patients of all ages and often result in long-term consequences for them, their families, and caregivers. The burden of disease and the socioeconomic impact are immense and include direct medical and rehabilitation costs and a loss of productivity for society. Brain injury is a collective term for a variety of disorders with different etiologies that include trauma and non-traumatic origins such as hypoxic/ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, anoxia (e.g., after cardiac or respiratory arrest), infection and inflammation, tumors, genetic mutations, autoimmunity, hydrocephalus, surgery or carbon monoxide poisoning. Depending on the etiology, different mechanisms are involved in the pathology and repair of the injury, with oxidative stress and neuroinflammation as common denominators. The mammalian brain has only limited capacity for neuroregeneration, and treatment options are scarce. In recent years, much hope has been placed in stem cell treatment.

Mesenchymal stem or stromal cells (MSC) came into the focus of research as a potential treatment for brain disorders due to their availability and specific properties. MSC can readily be isolated from many tissue sources from autologous and allogeneic donors and be expanded, characterized, processed, and stored, meeting good manufacturing practices for later clinical use. Although MSC have been proven safe in clinical trials, the tissue source, dosing, and the time and route of delivery need to be optimized to maximize the potency of MSC treatment. Understanding the mechanisms of action will lead to further improvement of MSC therapy by opening the door to the development of MSC-based therapeutics that are tailor-made for specific types of brain injuries or individual patients. A large part of MSC’s therapeutic effects have been attributed to paracrine mechanisms such as the secretion of trophic, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory factors and extracellular vesicles. Understanding the complex crosstalk between MSC and the host brain will help to promote the MSC’s potential to boost neuroregeneration in the injured brain.

This Special Issue is focused on the latest progress on therapeutic mechanisms and applications in the field of MSC-based therapies for brain injuries. The issue is open to original basic, preclinical, and clinical research manuscripts and review manuscripts discussing recent advances and perspectives.

Dr. Andreina Schoeberlein
Guest Editor

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• Brain injury
• Mesenchymal stromal cells
• Mesenchymal stem cells
• Cell therapy
• Mechanism of action
• Paracrine effects
• Immunomodulation
• Neuroinflammation
• Neuroregeneration