The Outcomes of Schwann Cell Therapy on Functional Recovery, Axonal Regeneration, and Remyelination in Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review Study.

Abstract

Introduction: Cell therapy is regarded as a significant and therapeutic strategy for treating spinal cord injury (SCI). This systematic review was conducted to assess Schwann cell (SC) therapy and its effect on functional recovery, axonal regeneration, and remyelination.

Methods: By a systematic review study, all associated articles that investigated the effect of Schwann cell therapy on functional recovery, axonal regeneration and remyelination and were published between 1995 and 2024 were evaluated through searching in PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science. The following keywords were searched: spinal cord injury, Schwann cell therapy, transplantation, functional recovery, axonal regeneration, and remyelination and Boolean operators were used to increase the search results: "(Remyelination OR Regeneration OR Transplantation) AND (Spinal Cord Injury)", "Spinal Cord Injury AND Schwann cell", "Spinal Cord Injury AND Schwann cell AND transplantation" and the search was filtered for species, injury type, experimental study, interventional study, clinical trial study, systematic review and meta-analysis study and was limited to articles in English and Persian languages.

Results: The results of studies on animal samples showed significant functional recovery of cases treated using SCs. However, the success of cell therapy in human experiments has not been established; moreover, researchers should consider other therapeutic approaches in addition to cell transplantation, especially combination therapy.

Discussion: Studies have shown that Schwann cell transplantation into a contused spinal cord can result in axonal regeneration and functional recovery, similar to the repair models involving spinal cord transection. Therefore, an understanding of the results of Schwann cell therapy on functional recovery, axonal regeneration, and remyelination in spinal cord injury is necessary and helpful.

Conclusion: Schwann cell transplantation promotes functional recovery and axonal regeneration in SCI animal models, but human translation requires further investigation, highlighting the need for combinatorial therapies.