• Stem cells belong to the category of kidney essence, guiding treatment of kidney essence deficiency diseases.
• Acupuncture activates multiple signaling pathways and regulates growth factor expression to promote stem cell proliferation and differentiation.
• Acupuncture intervention can enhance the therapeutic effect of stem cells by promoting their proliferation and differentiation.
• Challenges remain in establishing stem cell engineering standards and innovating acupuncture therapy for clinical translation.