Adipose Stem Cells

A new study into obesity and the regulation of adipocyte progenitor cell differentiation highlights a key role for microenvironmental factors and the immediate early response 3 (IER3) gene.

Clinical trial finds that injection of adipose-derived stem cells represents a successful therapy in the long term for Crohn’s fistula

Small scale clinical study demonstrates the potential utility of stem cells derived from adipose tissue for the treatment of female incontinence problems

Adult stem cell therapies usually rely on extraction, purification, expansion and then re-infusion/re-implantation, with each stage entailing their own specific risks and disadvantages. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) are a therapeutically important cell type taken from the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) made up of numerous cell types: vascular smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, mast cells, macrophages, lymphocytes, endothelial cells, preadipocytes, as well as ASCs (see paper for extensive references).

 Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by inflammation and scarring throughout the central nervous system (CNS) which currently has no cure (Jadasz et al).

Enhancing In Vivo Survival of Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells Through Bcl-2 Overexpression Using a Minicircle Vector

From Stem Cells Translational Medicine

Survival of therapeutically relevant multipotent stem cells, such as human adipose-derived stromal cells (hASCs), is currently a significant hurdle to stem cell therapy.   This barrier is primarily caused by environmental stresses on transplanted cells by the often refractory cellular environment on the transplant site (Allen et al, Bauer et al and Broughton et al).   This often leads to apoptosis (Zhang et al) and poor engraftment (Wu et al), and therefore it has been postulated that modulating the apoptosis pathway may enhance the therapeutic worth of stem cells.   In a study published in Stem Cells TM, the group of Michael T. Longaker at the Stanford University School of Medicine, USA have studied the overexpression of the Bcl-2 gene, known to imbue survival advantages (Domen and Domen and Weissman), in hASCs and demonstrated an increased level of tissue regeneration which can be translated to a clinical setting (Hyun et al).

Original article from STEM CELLS Translational Medicine

“An Abundant Perivascular Source of Stem Cells for Bone Tissue Engineering”

The isolation of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-like cells for bone formation/regeneration currently relies on their ability to adhere to culture plates and their extended growth in vitro, which carries the risk of adaption and loss of function in vivo. A more efficacious method would be the direct identification and isolation of such cells from primary sources, a strategy which has been previously attempted from the freshly isolated total stromal vascular fraction (SVF) from adipose tissue. However, these initial studies found poor bone formation/regeneration (Muller et al and Cheung et al) perhaps linked to the heterogenous nature of the SVF, which contain many non-mesenchymal cell types. Researchers from the laboratories of Kang Ting, Bruno Péault and Chia Soo previously reported on the MSC-like characteristics of human perivascular stem cells (hPSCs) found in adipose tissue, identifying two subpopulations; CD45^-CD146⁺CD34^- pericytes surrounding microvessels and capillaries (Crisan et al 2008 and Crisan et al 2009) and a second distinct CD45^-CD146^-CD34⁺ adventitial cell type, associated with the outermost connective tissue covering larger blood vessels (Corselli et al). Another previous paper from the authors also suggested that hPSCs outperformed human SVF cells (hSVFs) in osteogenic differentiation and bone formation (James et al). Now, in a follow-up study in Stem Cells Translational Medicine the group extend their studies on hPSCs, identifying them as a highly reproducible and efficacious cell source for bone regeneration (James and Zara et al).