Osteoarthritis is a common joint disease characterized by progressive degeneration of articular cartilage, leading to pain and dysfunction. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising tool for the treatment of osteoarthritis due to their ability to attenuate inflammatory responses, promoting cartilage repair, and immunomodulation. Recent studies have further clarified the mechanism of MSCs in treating osteoarthritis, including direct differentiation into chondrocytes, secretion of anti-inflammatory factors, and regulation of immune response, etc. Meanwhile, researchers are conducting phase I or phase II clinical trials of MSCs in treating osteoarthritis, and positive results have been achieved. Bone marrow-derived MSCs have strong potential for multidirectional differentiation and can effectively alleviate inflammation and promote cartilage repair, but their proliferative and immunomodulatory capacities are relatively low; adipose-derived MSCs show strong anti-inflammatory effects but are slightly less efficient in cartilage regeneration; umbilical cord-derived MSCs show great potential for cartilage repair and immunomodulation and synovial-derived MSCs have excellent chondrogenesis and immunomodulation. MSCs from synovial membrane have excellent chondrogenic capacity but are difficult to obtain. Despite the current promising research results on MSCs for osteoarthritis, clinical issues such as the choice of MSC source, mode of administration, and long-term safety and efficacy still need to be further explored.

Osteoarthritis is a common joint disease characterized by progressive degeneration of articular cartilage, leading to pain and dysfunction. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising tool for the treatment of osteoarthritis due to their ability to attenuate inflammatory responses, promoting cartilage repair, and immunomodulation. Recent studies have further clarified the mechanism of MSCs in treating osteoarthritis, including direct differentiation into chondrocytes, secretion of anti-inflammatory factors, and regulation of immune response, etc. Meanwhile, researchers are conducting phase I or phase II clinical trials of MSCs in treating osteoarthritis, and positive results have been achieved. Bone marrow-derived MSCs have strong potential for multidirectional differentiation and can effectively alleviate inflammation and promote cartilage repair, but their proliferative and immunomodulatory capacities are relatively low; adipose-derived MSCs show strong anti-inflammatory effects but are slightly less efficient in cartilage regeneration; umbilical cord-derived MSCs show great potential for cartilage repair and immunomodulation and synovial-derived MSCs have excellent chondrogenesis and immunomodulation. MSCs from synovial membrane have excellent chondrogenic capacity but are difficult to obtain. Despite the current promising research results on MSCs for osteoarthritis, clinical issues such as the choice of MSC source, mode of administration, and long-term safety and efficacy still need to be further explored.