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World J Stem Cells. Nov 26, 2014; 6(5): 629-636
Published online Nov 26, 2014. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v6.i5.629
Stem cell application for osteoarthritis in the knee joint: A minireview
Kristin Uth, Dimitar Trifonov
Kristin Uth, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus Research Building, Old Road Campus, Oxford OX3 7DQ, United Kingdom
Dimitar Trifonov, BioDiscovery, Dundee Science Press, Scotland DD6 8NR, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Uth K and Trifonov D contributed equally to this paper.
Correspondence to: Kristin Uth, MSc, SGC, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus Research Building, Old Road Campus, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford OX3 7DQ, United Kingdom. kristin.uth@gmx.de
Telephone: +44-777-6639065
Received: July 27, 2014
Revised: August 31, 2014
Accepted: September 16, 2014
Published online: November 26, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Knee osteoarthritis is a common medical condition in the elderly and the obese. Despite the variety of available conventional treatments for this disease, in recent years stem cell therapy has been applied in an ever increasing number of clinical cases. Therefore the aim of this review is to outline the latest advances in stem cell therapy as a non-pharmacologic treatment for knee osteoarthritis. It also emphasizes on some of the challenges associated with stem cell therapy regarding knee cartilage regeneration and chondrogenesis in vitro and in vivo.