Adipose-derived Stem Cell Treatments

Adipose-derived stem cells have already been successfully used to help build facial bones for a teenager with a rare genetic mutation. The 14yr-old was missing the two zygomatic bones (cheekbones) meaning that his eyes were left very vulnerable and his face had a noticeable inward slope. Using his own stem cells harvested from fatty tissue, in combination with bone from a donor and stimulating bone morphogenetic protein-2, the surgeons at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital successfully performed a single procedure to restructure the teen’s face. The periosteum tissue taken from the boy’s leg was wrapped around the new bones to encourage new bone growth from the stem cells. Although this procedure was unique there are many potential applications for a similar technique to treat fractures, degenerative bone diseases such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Cytori Heart Disease Stem Cell Trial

A clinical trial (NCT00426868) currently being conducted by Cytori is looking at the use of adipose tissue as a source of autologous stem cells to treat patients with compromised cardiovascular function and ischaemic heart disease. Preliminary results presented by Cytori but not yet published in a journal or in full appear to show that the patients in the treatment group had significant improvements in various cardiovascular-health measurements at the six month follow-up compared to a deterioration of the ischaemic heart disease in patients receiving a placebo treatment. The patients’ improvements were sustained at a further follow-up 18months after the treatment which offers considerable hope for those with cardiovascular disease that is manageable only by medication and for which there is no known cure.

Spinal Cord Injuries and Crohn’s Treatments Using Stem Cells

There are a number of other clinical trials actively recruiting or underway that are using stem cells sourced from adipose tissue to treat a variety of diseases and pathologies. Studies on spinal cord injury, unresponsive secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, critical limb ischaemia, degenerative arthritis, and diabetes are all currently recruiting participants for adipose-derived stem cell treatment. Research into the use of adipose-derived stem cells for healing perianal fistulas associated with Crohn’s Disease has demonstrated a considerable improvement in patients treated with the stem cells alongside the conventional fibrin glue (a 71% improvement compared to 16%). This trial, sponsored by Cellerix (NCT01020825), has now been expanded into a Phase II multicenter, randomized controlled trial in order to further investigate the use of ASCs (Garcia-Olmo, et al, 2009).

References

Guilak F, Estes BT, Diekman BO, Moutos FT, Gimble JM., 2010 Nicolas Andry Award: Multipotent adult stem cells from adipose tissue for musculoskeletal tissue engineering.Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2010 Sep;468(9):2530-40. Epub 2010 Jul 13.

Sun N, Panetta NJ, Gupta DM, Wilson KD, Lee A, Jia F, Hu S, Cherry AM, Robbins RC, Longaker MT, Wu JC., Feeder-free derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells from adult human adipose stem cells.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 15;106(37):15720-5. Epub 2009 Sep 8.