REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Alloimmunity and Transplantation

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1613502

This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in Safety, Efficacy and Mechanisms of Action of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapies - Volume IIView all 11 articles

Breaking boundaries in ankylosing spondylitis: how innovative cell therapies reshape immunity, drive cutting-edge advances, and face future challenges

Provisionally accepted
Minxia KeMinxia Ke1,2Wenli LiuWenli Liu1,2Huimin LuHuimin Lu1Xiafei PanXiafei Pan3Mengyang WuMengyang Wu3Nianmin QiNianmin Qi1Zhiqiang WangZhiqiang Wang1,2Yuehong WuYuehong Wu3*Feng ZhangFeng Zhang1,2*
  • 1Asia Cell & Gene Therapeutics Co., Limited, Zhejiang, China
  • 2Horgos Stem Cell Therapy Co., Limited, Xinjiang, China
  • 3Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

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Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease primarily affecting the axial skeleton, characterized by joint erosion and ankylosis. AS significantly impacts quality of life, work capacity and mental health through chronic pain, stiffness and functional decline. Its pathogenesis is multifactorial, involving genetic predispositions, immunological dysregulation and environmental triggers. Current treatments, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and immunosuppressive agents, offer limited symptomatic relief and fail to improve long-term prognosis due to efficacy limitations and side effects. Recent advances in cell therapy, particularly mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, demonstrate promise in addressing these limitations by providing immunomodulatory, antiinflammatory and regenerative benefits. This review summarizes the pathogenesis of AS, the limitations of existing treatments and the clinical progress of MSC therapy, while exploring the potential of emerging CAR-based therapies.

Keywords: ankylosing spondylitis, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Regenerative Medicine, Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, Clinical progress, autoimmune inflammation

Received: 17 Apr 2025; Accepted: 23 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ke, Liu, Lu, Pan, Wu, Qi, Wang, Wu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Yuehong Wu, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang, China
Feng Zhang, Asia Cell & Gene Therapeutics Co., Limited, Zhejiang, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material