{"id":606,"slug":"what-are-the-risks-of-stem-cell-therapy","question":"What are the risks of stem cell therapy?","intent":"informational","language":"en","url":"https://worldwiki.io/q/what-are-the-risks-of-stem-cell-therapy","entity":{"slug":"stem-cell-therapy","name":"Stem Cell Therapy","url":"https://worldwiki.io/entity/stem-cell-therapy"},"answer":{"short_answer":"The risks depend on the treatment. After a donor-cell (allogeneic) transplant, graft-versus-host disease occurs in about 35–45% of patients with related donors and 60–80% with unrelated donors. Infections are another serious risk. With unapproved products, the FDA has reported blindness, tumor formation, sepsis, neurological events, unwanted immune reactions and cells moving to unintended sites.","detailed_answer":"<p>In one published case series, three patients lost severe vision in both eyes after injections of their own fat-derived cells. At one year, their vision ranged from 20/200 to no light perception.<span class=\"ref\">[10]</span></p><h3>Stem cells in cosmetic surgery</h3><p>In cosmetic surgery, \"stem cell\" procedures almost always use <a href=\"/entity/adipose-derived-stem-cell\">adipose-derived stem cells</a>. The stromal vascular fraction (SVF), which contains them, is separated from liposuctioned fat and mixed into the fat being grafted, as in <a href=\"/entity/stem-cell-breast-augmentation\">stem cell breast augmentation</a> and <a href=\"/entity/stem-cell-fat-grafting\">stem cell fat grafting</a>.</p>","format":"paragraph","confidence":75,"verified_at":"2026-09-18 06:21:20","updated_at":"2026-10-08 09:18:06"},"sources":[{"id":96,"title":"Important Patient and Consumer Information About Regenerative Medicine Therapies","url":"https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/consumers-biologics/important-patient-and-consumer-information-about-regenerative-medicine-therapies","publisher":"U.S. Food and Drug Administration","type":"government","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:28"},{"id":97,"title":"Approved Cellular and Gene Therapy Products","url":"https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/cellular-gene-therapy-products/approved-cellular-and-gene-therapy-products","publisher":"U.S. Food and Drug Administration","type":"government","accessed_at":"2026-11-11 18:01:16"},{"id":98,"title":"One and a half million hematopoietic stem cell transplants: continuous and differential improvement in worldwide access with the use of non-identical family donors (Niederwieser D, et al., Haematologica 107(5):1045-1053)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9052915/","publisher":"Haematologica","type":"journal","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:50"},{"id":99,"title":"Stem Cell Resources for Patients","url":"https://www.isscr.org/patients","publisher":"International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)","type":"organization","accessed_at":"2026-09-21 18:00:43"},{"id":100,"title":"Graft-versus-host disease: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia","url":"https://www.medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001309.htm","publisher":"U.S. National Library of Medicine (MedlinePlus)","type":"government","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:51"},{"id":101,"title":"Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapies Approved by Regulatory Agencies around the World (Fernández-Garza LE, et al., Pharmaceuticals 16(9):1334)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10536665/","publisher":"Pharmaceuticals (MDPI)","type":"journal","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:48"},{"id":102,"title":"Alofisel: EPAR","url":"https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/alofisel","publisher":"European Medicines Agency","type":"government","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:53"},{"id":103,"title":"FDA Approves Remestemcel-L-Rknd for Steroid-Refractory Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease in Pediatric Patients","url":"https://www.ons.org/publications-research/voice/news-views/12-2024/fda-approves-remestemcel-l-rknd-steroid-refractory","publisher":"Oncology Nursing Society","type":"organization","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:54"},{"id":104,"title":"New legal category of 'advanced regenerative medicine treatment' in Korea's amended regenerative medicine law: comparative lessons from Japan (Yoon, Lee, Kim)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13083794/","publisher":"Stem Cell Reports","type":"journal","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:50"},{"id":105,"title":"Unproven stem cell therapy for macular degeneration (Ansari ZA, Kuriyan AE, Albini TA)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5710873/","publisher":"Oncotarget","type":"journal","accessed_at":"2026-11-09 18:00:50"}],"published_at":"2026-09-18 06:21:20"}