Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be induced to differentiate and express the traits of a diverse range of cell types, including muscle, bone, skin, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, marrow stroma, fat, neural cells, and more. For this reason, MSCs represent a population of cells with the potential to contribute to treatments for a diverse range of acute and degenerative diseases in which tissues need regeneration or repair.
While mesenchymal stem cells have been explored for potential benefits across a wide range of conditions, there are four key areas that represent the majority of investigation to date, which are:
- Osteogenic repair
- Myogenic and myocardial repair
- Neural repair
- Pancreatic repair