Table 5 Clinical trials using mesenchymal stem cell-based therapies for degenerative disc disease

2010, Yoshikawa et al. [13]

Autologous BM-MSCs

10⁵ cells/ml

2

Intradiscal, single

24

Improvement in pain score and rehydration of the disc in both patients

2011, Orozco et al. [12]

Autologous BM-MSCs

23 ± 5 × 10⁶

10

Intradiscal, single

12

Improvement in pain, disability, and disc hydration

2015, Pettine et al. [33]

Autologous BM concentrated cells

121 (±11) × 10⁶

26

Intradiscal, single or double

12

Improvement in pain scores in patients with higher CFU-F concentrations; improvement on MRI (n = 8)

2017, Mesoblast Ltd (unpublished)

Allogeneic MPCs in HA carrier

6 × 10⁶ 1.8 × 10⁷

100

Intradiscal, single

36

Improvement in VAS and ODI in 6 million MPCs injected group

Present study

AT-MSCs in HA carrier

2 × 10⁷ (n = 5) 4 × 10⁷ (n = 5)

10

Intradiscal, single

12

Improvement in VAS, ODI, SF-36 (n = 6); improvement of water content on diffusion MRI (n = 3)