A Long-Term Follow-Up Study of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell Transplantation in Patients with Drug-Resistant Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Allogeneic mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have been widely studied as an alternative cell source for regenerative medicine. Here, we report a long-term follow-up study of allogeneic bone marrow and/or umbilical cord MSC transplantation (MSCT) in severe and drug-refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Eighty-one patients were enrolled, and the 5-year overall survival rate was 84% (68/81) after MSCT. At 5-year follow-up, 27% of patients (22/81) were in complete clinical remission and another 7% (6/81) were in partial clinical remission, with a 5-year disease remission rate of 34% (28/81). In total, 37 patients had achieved clinical remission and then 9 patients subsequently relapsed, with 5-year overall rate of relapse of 24% (9/37). SLE Disease Activity Index scores, serum albumin, complement C3, peripheral white blood cell, and platelet numbers, as well as proteinuria levels, continued to improve during the follow-up. Our results demonstrated that allogeneic MSCT is safe and resulted in long-term clinical remission in SLE patients.