Human Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells for Cell-Based Therapies in the Treatment of Systemic Sclerosis

Abstract

The present study was designed to evaluate the clinical outcome of cell-based therapy with cultured adiposederived stromal cells (ASCs) for the treatment of cutaneous manifestations in patients affected by systemic sclerosis (SSc). ASCs have an extraordinary developmental plasticity, including the ability to undergo multilineage differentiation and self-renewal. Moreover, ASCs can be easily harvested from small volumes of liposuction aspirate, showing great in vitro viability and proliferation rate. Here we isolated, characterized, and expanded ASCs, assessing both their mesenchymal origin and their capability to differentiate towards the adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic lineage. We developed an effective method for ASCs transplantation into sclerodermic patients by means of a hyaluronic acid (HA) solution, which allowed us to achieve precise structural modifications. ASCs were isolated from subcutaneous adipose tissue of six sclerodermic patients and cultured in a chemical-defined medium before autologous transplantation to restore skin sequelae. The results indicated that transplantation of a combination of ASCs in HA solution determined a significant improvement in tightening of the skin without complications such as anechoic areas, fat necrosis, or infections, thus suggesting that ASCs are a potentially valuable source of cells for skin therapy in rare diseases such as SSc and generally in skin disorders.

Mesenchymal stromal cells and rheumatic disorders

“…A. Tyndall / Immunology Letters xxx (2015) xxx-xxx The authors concluded cautiously that MSC improved the acral ulcers and to a lesser extent the skin thickening, but that given the heterogeneity of the clinical manifestations, larger studies were required. Further reports and uncontrolled small series have also shown positive effects following the local injection of autologous adipose tissue derived MSC into face [28] and digits [29], autologous blood and bone marrow derived mononuclear cells [30] and IVI autologous bone marrow derived MSC [31] in SSc patients. No significant toxicity was reported.…”

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Inflammatory Skin Diseases: Clinical Potential and Mode of Action

“…In our previous studies on AD, hUCB-MSCs at passages 5 to 7 were used in both co-culture experiments and in vivo studies, and the clinical trial was conducted using hUCB-MSCs at passage 5. Additionally, Scuderi et al showed that SC injection of autologous AT-derived MSCs (AT-MSCs) with hyaluronic acid (HA) scaffold resulted in the significant improvement of skin symptoms in patients with SSc, and the number of passages for injected MSCs was between 2 and 3 [65]. …”

Symptomatic knee osteoarthritis treatment using autologous adipose derived stem cells and platelet-rich plasma: a clinical study

“…To date, ADSCs have become excellent candidates for research and clinical applications. Many studies have shown that ADSC transplantation efficiently improved almost all symptoms of certain diseases, such as liver fibrosis (Harn et al, 2012), nerve defects (Gu et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2011;Santiago et al, 2009), ischemia (Mazo et al, 2012;Rigol et al, 2010), skeletal muscle injury (Pecanha et al, 2012), passive chronic immune thrombocytopenia (Xiao et al, 2012), and myocardial infarction (Yang et al, 2012) in animals, and systemic sclerosis in humans (Riordan et al, 2009;Scuderi et al, 2013).…”