The authors conclude that their findings should serve as a warning to clinical investigators that the development of blood vessel and bone marrow masses may be a possible complication of stem cell therapy. Further research is needed to determine the circumstances that may cause these masses to form and to determine strategies to avoid this possible complication from occurring in the future.

In reviewing the results of this report in an accompanying editorial, Andras Nagy, PhD and Susan Quaggin, MD (Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto) noted that it provides a cautionary note and underscores a growing risk associated with the increased number of private clinics offering stem cell therapies to patients with little or no oversight from the scientific stem cell community. "Premature enthusiasm and protocols that are not fully vetted are dangerous and result in negative publicity for the field of stem cell research, and more importantly, may result in disastrous outcomes with no benefit to the patient," they wrote.

SOURCE Journal of the American Society Nephrology