Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

MINI REVIEW article

Front. Neurosci.

Sec. Translational Neuroscience

Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1622787

This article is part of the Research TopicNew Strategies for Spinal Cord Injury and Immunotherapy Targeting Novel Programmed Death PathwaysView all 6 articles

Targeting ferroptosis in spinal cord injury through stem cell therapy: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Prospects

Provisionally accepted
Qiqin  ShenQiqin ShenLingdi  WuLingdi WuBingbing  LiBingbing LiFang  YuFang Yu*
  • Shaoxing Central Hospital, Shaoxing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a traumatic neurological disorder with a high incidence and limited clinical treatment options. Ferroptosis, a newly discovered form of programmed cell death, has shown significant research potential in the field of neurological diseases. Stem cells have become an ideal therapeutic option for various diseases due to their multidirectional differentiation potential and paracrine properties. Existing studies have demonstrated that stem cells possess substantial potential in the repair of spinal cord injuries. Recent research has found that stem cell transplantation can improve the pathological process of SCI by regulating the ferroptosis pathway. This review systematically described the molecular mechanisms of ferroptosis in SCI, the biological effects of stem cell therapy for SCI, and the therapeutic potential of stem cell-targeted regulation of ferroptosis. Additionally, we proposed three key research directions: cross-study of ferroptosis signaling pathways and stem cell action mechanisms, optimization strategies for therapeutic stem cells, and multimodal combined treatments based on ferroptosis regulation. This review aimed to provide new theoretical foundations and research perspectives for stem cell therapy in SCI.

Keywords: spinal cord injury, ferroptosis, Stem Cell Therapy, programmed cell death, Neural Repair

Received: 04 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Shen, Wu, Li and Yu. 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: Fang Yu, Shaoxing Central Hospital, Shaoxing, 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.