Safety and Efficacy of UC-MSC in Patients With Acute Severe Graft-versus-host Disease

Allogenic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the treatment for many malignant and non-malignant hematologic disorders. Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is a serious life-threatening complication after allo-HSCT. The outcome for patients with aGVHD is poor and overall survival is low. Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), as the major complication of allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation(PBSCT), limits the application of this curative therapy. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stem cells, which are able to modulate immune response in vitro and in vivo, and have possibilities of treating diseases caused by immune dysregulation such as aGVHD. MSCs obtained from umbilical cord (UC) have similar immunosuppressive properties as bone marrow-MSCs. In addition, UC-derived MSCs can be used for off-the-shelf use and are obtained without any harm to donors than bone marrow-MSCs. Therefore, the investigators designed this study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of UC-derived MSCs in patients with aGVHD.