The impact of cryopreservation on bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells: a systematic review

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent an invaluable asset for the feld of cell therapy. Human Bone marrowderived MSCs (hBM-MSCs) are one of the most commonly used cell types in clinical trials. They are currently being studied and tested for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and conditions. The future availability of MSCs therapies to the public will require a robust and reliable delivery process. Cryopreservation represents the gold standard in cell storage and transportation, but its efect on BM-MSCs is still not well established. A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the impact of cryopreservation on BM-MSCs and to attempt to uncover the reasons behind some of the controversial results reported in the literature. Forty-one in vitro studies were analysed, and their results organised according to the cell attributes they assess. It was concluded that cryopreservation does not afect BMMSCs morphology, surface marker expression, diferentiation or proliferation potential. However, mixed results exist regarding the efect on colony forming ability and the efects on viability, attachment and migration, genomic stability and paracrine function are undefned mainly due to the huge variabilities governing the cryopreservation process as a whole and to the lack of standardised assays