Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jun 26, 2021; 13(6): 568-593
Published online Jun 26, 2021. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i6.568
Review of the potential of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of infectious diseases
Amit Sharma, Anuja Chakraborty, Bithiah Grace Jaganathan
Amit Sharma, Anuja Chakraborty, Bithiah Grace Jaganathan, Stem Cell and Cancer Biology Group, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India
Author contributions: Sharma A wrote the manuscript; Chakraborty A wrote the manuscript; Jaganathan BG conceptualized the study and wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bithiah Grace Jaganathan, PhD, Associate Professor, Stem Cell and Cancer Biology Group, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Amingaon, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India. bithiahgj@iitg.ac.in
Received: March 8, 2021
Peer-review started: March 8, 2021
First decision: March 29, 2021
Revised: April 7, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2021
Article in press: June 3, 2021
Published online: June 26, 2021
Abstract

The therapeutic value of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for the treatment of infectious diseases and the repair of disease-induced tissue damage has been explored extensively. MSCs inhibit inflammation, reduce pathogen load and tissue damage encountered during infectious diseases through the secretion of antimicrobial factors for pathogen clearance and they phagocytose certain bacteria themselves. MSCs dampen tissue damage during infection by downregulating the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and inhibiting the excessive recruitment of neutrophils and proliferation of T cells at the site of injury. MSCs aid in the regeneration of damaged tissue by differentiating into the damaged cell types or by releasing paracrine factors that direct tissue regeneration, differentiation, and wound healing. In this review, we discuss in detail the various mechanisms by which MSCs help combat pathogens, tissue damage associated with infectious diseases, and challenges in utilizing MSCs for therapy.

Keywords: Infectious diseases, Mesenchymal stem cells, Antimicrobial effect, Immunomodulation, Tissue repair, COVID-19

Core Tip: This review discusses the therapeutic benefits of utilizing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to treat infectious diseases and repair tissue damage induced by the disease-causing infectious agents. The immunomodulatory and regenerative properties of MSCs are modulated by the inflammatory milieu generated by the disease and should be considered while utilizing MSCs for treatment.