Introduction: Peritoneal fibrosis remains a serious complication of long-term peritoneal dialysis. Stem cell therapy is an innovative field of scientific investigation with potential for clinical application. Here, we systematically reviewed the studies to determine whether stem cell based therapy could improve the peritoneal fibrosis in experimental models of peritoneal fibrosis.
Evidence acquisition: Our systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library yield 5219 article. After screening for eligibility, in vivo, experimental, interventional studies using stem cells in animal models of peritoneal fibrosis; 11 articles were included. The studies underwent comprehensive review, quality assessment, and data extraction.
Evidence synthesis: Mesenchymal stem cells were the most used type (90.9%) originated either from bone marrow (70%), adipose tissue (20%), or umbilical cord (10%). In 90.9% of studies, stem cells were injected after peritoneal insult and 63.6% of studies used the intraperitoneal injection route. Eight studies met the ≥50% of criteria indicated by ARRIVE recommendation. Information regarding the nature of ethical review permissions, species, strain and gender, dose, route and duration of treatment, was stated by all studies; 81.8% of the studies reported the number of animals in each group. Adverse events were reported in one study. Improvement in histological parameters including attenuation of submesothelial thickness (100%), inflammation (62.5%), angiogenesis (60%), and fibrosis (85.7%) was reported after stem cell therapy. Peritoneal permeability function by assessing the ultrafiltration, glucose transport and solute permeability was improved in all studies. Stem cell treatment resulted in mesothelial recovery in 100% of studies.
Conclusions: In preclinical studies, the use of stem cells is associated with improved peritoneal fibrosis. This may provide an important foundation to support future translational clinical research using stem cell therapy to repair the injured peritoneum and modulate immune responses in PD patients.