Effects of mesenchymal stromal cell-conditioned media on measures of lung structure and function: a systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical studies

Background Lung disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. A breach in the lung alveolar-epithelial barrier and impairment in lung function are hallmarks of acute and chronic pulmonary illness. This review is part two of our previous work. In part 1, we demonstrated that CdM is as effective as MSCs in modulating inflammation. Herein, we investigated the effects of mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-conditioned media (CdM) on (i) lung architecture/function in animal models mimicking human lung disease, and (ii) performed a head-to-head comparison of CdM to MSCs. Methods Adhering to the animal Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory animal Experimentation protocol, we conducted a search of English articles in five medical databases. Two independent investigators collected information regarding lung: alveolarization, vasculogenesis, permeability, histologic injury, compliance, and measures of right ventricular hypertrophy and right pulmonary pressure. Meta-analysis was performed to generate random effect size using standardized mean difference with 95% confidence interval. Results A total of 29 studies met inclusion. Lung diseases included bronchopulmonary dysplasia, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, acute respiratory distress syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary fibrosis. CdM improved all measures of lung structure and function. Moreover, no statistical difference was observed in any of the lung measures between MSCs and CdM. Conclusions In this meta-analysis of animal models recapitulating human lung disease, CdM improved lung structure and function and had an effect size comparable to MSCs.