Stem Cell Transplantation in Iran: A Systematic Review Article

Stem cell therapy is a new treatment option for different diseases. The aim of this systematic review is assessing the articles that focus on SCT in Iran and evaluate the amount of their success, failure and complication. Systematic search was conducted for finding English and Persian papers (controlled trials and cohort studies with follow up) published before March 2015. We searched PubMed, ISI, and SCOPUS as the main international electronic data sources, as well as Iranmedex, Irandoc, andSID as the main domestic databases. Quality assessment of clinical trial and cohort study was performed based on the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) check lists respectively. The 19 published articles in this systematic review included 2 cohort, 13 clinical trial, 3 open label clinical trial and 1 clinical trial pilot study. The stem cell types for transplantation were Mesenchymal (63.15%), mononuclear (31.6%), and fetal liver cell suspension (5.6%). The most SCT was performed at Tehran (68.42%), Shiraz (15.8%), Kerman & Isfahan hospitals (5.26%). The main diseases were decompensated cirrhosis and myocardial infarction (26.31%), MS (15.78%), DM (10.52%), Burger disease, neuroblastoma, sub-acute spinal cord injury and osteoarthritis (5.26%). The most of cells transplantation are performed successfully in Iran. Cell transplantation may be safely administered to treat patients with disabling disease.