Comparing the effect of bone marrow mono-nuclear cells with mesenchymal stem cells after acute myocardial infarction on improvement of left ventricular function: a meta-analysis of clinical trials

BACKGROUND: The effect of transplantation of bone-marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on ejection fraction (LVEF) has been studied in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in clinical trials. This raises the question that which type of cell may help improve LVEF better in AMI patients. No meta-analysis of clinical trials has yet addressed this question. METHODS: Electronic databases were searched thoroughly to find eligible trials on the effects of transplantation of BM-MNCs and MSCs in patients with AMI. The primary outcome was improvement in LVEF. Data were synthesized using random-effects meta-analysis. For maximizing the credibility of subgroup analysis, we used the instrument for assessing the Credibility of Effect Modification of Analyses (ICEMAN) for meta-analyses. RESULTS: A total of 36 trials (26 on BM-MNCs and 10 on MSCs) with 2489 patients (1466 were transplanted [1241 with BM-MNCs and 225 with MSCs] and 1023 as controls) were included. Both types of cells showed significant improvements in ejection fraction in short-term follow-up (BM-MNCs: WMD = 2.13%, 95% CI = 1.23 to 3.04, p < 0.001; MSCs: WMD = 3.71%, 95% CI = 2.32 to 5.09, p < 0.001), and according to ICEMAN criteria, MSCs are more effective. For selected population of patients who received stem cell transplantation in early course after AMI (less than 11 days), this effect was even more pronounced (BM-MNC: WMD = 3.07%, 95% CI = 1.97 to 4.17, p < 0.001, I(2) = 40.7%; MSCs: WMD = 5.65%, 95% CI = 3.47 to 7.84, p < 0.001, I(2) = 84.6%). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that transplantation of MSCs after AMI might increase LVEF more than BM-MNCs; also, based on ICEMAN, there was likely effect modification between subgroups although uncertainty still remained. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-022-02883-3.