Mesenchymal stem cells are of great interest due to their ability to be injected intravenously and home to the area of injury, as well as the fact that they do not require matching with the recipient. To date, mesenchymal stem cells have been used in the treatment of spinal cord injury, heart failure, and many other indications.

The video describes the use of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of the autoimmune condition collagen induced arthritis (CIA), which is the current leading animal model for rheumatoid arthritis.

The experiments demonstrated that:

1. allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells are capable of inhibiting disease pathology

2. suppression of disease is associated with inhibition with cytokine shift and reduced plasma TNF-alpha
3. mesenchymal stem cells seem to induce generation of T regulatory cells.