Potential therapeutic applications of antler stem cells and their derivatives

Table 3 Qualitative comparison of antler stem cells with established mesenchymal stem cell sources

Cell source	Proliferative capacity	Immunogenicity	Differentiation tendency	Secretome/EV characteristics	Translational maturity
AnSCs	High in selected populations; prolonged expansion and low senescence reported	Living cells are xenogeneic; EV immunogenicity remains insufficiently defined	Strong osteogenic and chondrogenic activity; population-dependent heterogeneity	Regeneration-associated proteins, miRNAs and metabolites; relatively high EV production reported	Preclinical; no human trials
Bone marrow MSCs	Moderate; decreases with donor age and passage	Generally low but not absent in allogeneic use	Well-established osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic differentiation	Extensively characterized immunomodulatory and trophic secretome	Extensive preclinical and clinical experience
Adipose-derived MSCs	Moderate to high; relatively abundant source	Generally low but not absent	Strong adipogenic potential; osteogenic and chondrogenic capacity	Angiogenic and immunomodulatory secretome	Extensive preclinical and growing clinical experience
Umbilical cord/Wharton’s jelly MSCs	High; relatively low senescence	Generally low among human allogeneic sources	Multilineage differentiation, although protocol-dependent	Strong immunomodulatory and trophic activity	Advanced preclinical and clinical development
Dental pulp MSCs	High in some comparative studies	Generally low but source- and activation-dependent	Strong odontogenic and neuroectoderm-associated potential; variable adipogenesis	Neurotrophic, angiogenic and immunomodulatory factors	Mainly preclinical and early clinical development

This table provides a qualitative overview based on heterogeneous published studies rather than standardized head-to-head comparisons. The comparisons are context-dependent and should be interpreted cautiously. EV: Extracellular vesicle; AnSCs: Antler stem cells; miRNAs: MicroRNAs; MSCs: Mesenchymal stem cells.