Background: Despite notable advances in the support and treatment of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), the management of those who develop a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) still constitutes an unmet medical need.
Main body: Both the initial injury (trauma, pancreatitis, infections) and the derived uncontrolled response promote a hyperinflammatory status that leads to systemic hypotension, tissue hypoperfusion and multiple organ failure. Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are emerging as a potential therapy for severe ICU patients due to their potent immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, regenerative and systemic homeostasis-regulating properties. MSCs have demonstrated clinical benefits in several inflammatory-based diseases, but their role in SIRS needs to be further explored.
Conclusion: In the current review, after briefly overviewing SIRS physiopathology, we explore the potential mechanisms why MSC therapy could aid in the recovery of this condition and the pre-clinical and early clinical evidence generated to date.
Keywords: MSCs; SIRS; cellular therapy; immunomodulation; intensive care; mesenchymal stromal/stem cells; sepsis; systemic inflammatory response syndrome.
© 2022 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics.