Efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy in Non-Malignant Untreatable Pediatric Diseases: An Update

Purpose: Within the last 25 years, stem cell therapy has shown that it can help patients with some incurable afflictions of the human body and, in some, alleviate the sufferings. The purpose of this review is to provide recent facts on numerous pediatric diseases that have no apparent cure and have been dealt with the usage of stem cells and their outcome. Methods: We searched electronic databases between January 2014 and July 2024, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, EBSCO Cumulative Index to Allied Health Literature, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central with keywords of pediatric diseases, stem cell therapy, mesenchymal stem cells and autoimmune diseases. Results: Studies gathered were carefully looked for. Isolation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) and their inherent ability to self-renew and differentiate into terminal cells like osteoblasts, chondrocytes, neurocytes, and cardiomyocytes made an essential panacea in treating many diseases. The features of MSCs are attributed to the secretion of paracrine factors, extracellular vesicles, and cytokines, the switch of mitochondria to nearby cells via hetero cellular coupling, and an effective suppressant of the inflammation process, immune reactions via direct cellular contact. The published medical trials for pediatric pulmonary, cardiac, orthopedic, endocrine, neurologic, and hematologic diseases provide proof that MSCs are indeed efficacious, but there exists a variant in examination results among studies due to quantity and quality, quantity of cells, route of administration and isolation of MSCs exist inside the treatment protocols. Conclusions: There is compelling proof of the efficacy and safety of autologous stem cells for the treatment of diseases in orthopedic, neurological, and autoimmune diseases. This can inspire clinicians and researchers to research appropriately at different centers with similar protocols, so that stem cell therapy turns into a part of the standard of care sooner instead of later.