End-stage disease due to liver cirrhosis is an important
cause of death worldwide. Cirrhosis results from
progressive, extensive fibrosis and impaired hepatocyte
regeneration. The only curative treatment is liver
transplantation, but due to the several limitations of
this procedure, the interest in alternative therapeutic
strategies is increasing. In particular, the potential of
bone marrow stem cell (BMSC) therapy in cirrhosis
has been explored in different trials. In this article, we
evaluate the results of 18 prospective clinical trials, and
we provide a descriptive overview of recent advances
in the research on hepatic regenerative medicine. The
main message from the currently available data in the
literature is that BMSC therapy is extremely promising
in the context of liver cirrhosis. However, its application
should be further explored in randomized, controlled
trials with large cohorts and long follow-ups