Table 1 Characteristics of the included randomized controlled studies
Study | Country | Patient population | Enrollment period | Sample size (Exp/Con) | Male (Exp/Con) | Average age (Exp/Con) | Cell type | Delivery route | Times of injection | Number of stem cells | Follow-up period (weeks) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lyra AC, 2010 [20] | Brazil | Advanced chronic liver disease | 2006.1–2006.4 | 15/15 | N/A | 56.7/50.0 | Autologous BM-MNCs | Hepatic artery | Single | 3.0 (0.88–11.2) × 108 | 48 |
Salama H, 2010 [21] | Egypt | End-stage liver cirrhosis | 2008.6–2009.5 | 90/50 | 78/39 | 50.3/50.9 | Autologous BM-HSCs | Portal vein | Single | 0.5 × 108 | 24 |
Amer ME, 2011 [22] | Egypt | HCV-related end-stage liver failure | 2008.10–2009.6 | 20/20 | 16/17 | 50.5/50.0 | Autologous BM-MSCs | Intrasplenic injection/portal vein | Single | 2.0 × 108 | 24 |
Lin H, 2012 [23] | China | Decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2009.1–2010.1 | 38/16 | 34/15 | 47/48* | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | (0.5–1.0) × 106/kg | 48 |
Shi M, 2012 [24] | China | HBV-related ACLF | 2009.3–2010.9 | 24/19 | 20/15 | 40/45* | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | 0.5 × 106/kg | 72 |
Zhang YF, 2012 [25] | China | Decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2009.3–2010.12 | 12/18 | 8/13 | 48.6/49.9 | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Hepatic artery | Single | ≥ 2.0 ×  107 | 12 |
Zhang Z, 2012 [26] | China | HBV-related decompensated liver cirrhosis | N/A | 30/15 | 26/14 | 48/47* | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | 0.5 × 106/kg | 48 |
Mohamadnejad M, 2013 [27] | Iran | Decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2007.7–2010.8 | 14/11 | 7/6 | 43.1/34.6 | Autologous BM-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Single | (1.2–2.95) × 108 | 48 |
Spar L, 2013 [28] | Switzerland | Decompensated alcoholic liver disease | 2008.2–2011.3 | 28/30 | 24/20 | 54/56* | Autologous BM-MNCs | Hepatic artery | Single | (0.47 ± 0.15) × 108/kg | 12 |
Wang QC, 2013 [29] | China | Decompensated liver cirrhosis and chronic liver failure | 2011.11–2010.5 | 9/9 | 14 | 50.7 | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | (1.2–6.2) × 107/mL | 4 |
Salama H, 2014 [30] | Egypt | HCV-related end-stage liver disease | 2010.6–2011.10 | 20/20 | 17/16 | 50.3/50.9 | Autologous BM-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Single | 1 × 106/kg | 26 |
Xu L, 2014 [31] | China | HBV-related liver cirrhosis | 2012.3–2012.12 | 20/19 | 13/11 | 44/45 | Autologous BM-MSCs | Hepatic artery | Single | (0.75 ± 0.5) × 106 | 24 |
Deng QZ, 2015 [32] | China | HBV-related decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2011.7–2013.12 | 33/35 | 20/12 | 49.5/50.2 | Autologous PBSCs | Hepatic artery | Single | (2–4) × 107 | 48 |
Li YY, 2015 [33] | China | HBV-related ACLF | 2009.10–2015.5 | 31/27 | 28/24 | 41.6/43.1 | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | (0.5–1.0) × 106/kg | 48 |
Zekri AR, 2015 [34] | Egypt | HCV-related liver cirrhosis | 2010.5–2012.5 | 60/30 | 51/26 | 50.3/49.4 | Autologous BM-CD34+/CD133+ cells | Portal vein/peripheral vein | Single/multiple | 1 × 106/kg | 48 |
Mohamadnejad M, 2016 [35] | Iran | Decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2010.3–2012.6 | 10/9 | 7/5 | 43.9/46.2 | Autologous BM-MNCs | Portal vein | Multiple | (7.62 ± 5.53) × 106 (9.17 ± 5.24) × 106 | 48 |
Suk KT, 2016 [36] | South Korea | Alcoholic liver cirrhosis | 2013.1–2015.11 | 37/18 | 32/17 | 53.8/53.7 | Autologous BM-MSCs | Hepatic artery | Single/multiple | 5 × 107 | 48 |
Fang XQ, 2017 [37] | China | HBV-related decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2013.1–2016.5 | 59/59 | 43/41 | 51.8/50.4 | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Hepatic artery/peripheral vein | Multiple | (4.0–4.5) × 108 | 52 |
Lin BL, 2017 [38] | China | HBV-related ACLF | 2010.10–2013.4 | 56/54 | 51/53 | 40.0/42.8 | Allogeneic BM-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | (1.0–10) × 105/kg | 24 |
Wu YZ, 2017 [39] | China | HBV-related decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2014.3–2016.2 | 42/42 | 25/24 | 49/50 | Autologous BM-MSCs | Hepatic artery | Single | 1 × 106/kg | 48 |
Zhang D, 2017 [40] | China | Liver fibrosis | 2012.1–2015.1 | 30/30 | 16/17 | 31.0/32.1 | Autologous BM-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | 3 × 106/mL | 12 |
Newsome PN, 2018 [41] | UK | Compensated liver cirrhosis | 2010.5–2015.2 | 28/27 | 22/13 | 56.5/52.0 | Autologous PBSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | 0.6 × 106/kg | 48 |
Esmaeilzadeh A, 2019 [42] | Iran | Decompensated liver cirrhosis | 2014.9–2015.6 | 10/10 | 9/8 | 46.0/45.2 | Autologous BM-MNC | Peripheral vein | Single | (2.15–12.3) × 106/kg | 24 |
Xu WX, 2019 [43] | China | HBV-related ACLF | 2012.1–2017.9 | 30/30 | 29/28 | 40.7/45.0 | Allogeneic UC-MSCs | Peripheral vein | Multiple | 1.0 × 105/kg | 48 |