This thin flap is easy and quick to harvest, has a reliable pedicle, and has minimal donor-site morbidity. It is now the authors' flap of choice for many common head and neck reconstructive problems. Early experience using the supraclavicular artery island flap suggests that it is an excellent flap option for head and neck oncologic disease patients.

Subcutaneous fat has emerged as an alternative tissue source for stromal/stem cells in regenerative medicine. Over the past decade, international research efforts have established a wealth of basic science and preclinical evidence regarding the differentiation potential and regenerative properties of both freshly processed, heterogeneous stromal vascular fraction cells and culture expanded, relatively homogeneous adipose-derived stromal/stem cells. The stage has been set for clinicians to translate adipose-derived cells from the bench to the bedside; however, this process will involve “development” steps that fall outside of traditional “hypothesis-driven, mechanism-based” paradigm. This concise review examines the next stages of the development process for therapeutic applications of adipose-derived cells and highlights the current state of the art regarding clinical trials. It is recommended that the experiments addressing these issues be reported comprehensively in the peer-review literature. This transparency will accelerate the standardization and reproducibility of adipose-derived cell therapies with respect to their efficacy and safety.

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The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases Src and Pyk2 have been implicated in linking a variety of G-proteincoupled receptors (GPCR) to the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling cascade. In this report we apply a genetic strategy using cells isolated from Src-, Pyk2-, or EGFR-deficient mice to explore the roles played by these protein tyrosine kinases in GPCR-induced activation of EGFR, Pyk2, and MAP kinase. We show that Src kinases are critical for activation of Pyk2 in response to GPCR-stimulation and that Pyk2 and Src are essential for GPCR-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of EGFR. By contrast, Pyk2, Src, and EGFR are dispensable for GPCR-induced activation of MAP kinase. Moreover, GPCR-induced MAP kinase activation is normal in fibroblasts deficient in both Src and Pyk2 (Src؊/؊Pyk2؊/؊ cells) as well as in fibroblasts deficient in all three Src kinases expressed in these cells (Src؊/ ؊Yes؊/؊Fyn؊/؊ cells). Finally, experiments are presented demonstrating that, upon stimulation of GPCR, activated Pyk2 forms a complex with Src, which in turn phosphorylates EGFR directly. These experiments reveal a role for Src kinases in Pyk2 activation and a role for Pyk2 and Src in tyrosine phosphorylation of EGFR following GPCR stimulation. In addition, EGFR, Src family kinases, and Pyk2 are not required for linking GPCRs with the MAP kinase signaling cascade.

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BackgroundFat grafting is used to restore breast defects after surgical resection of breast tumors. Supplementing fat grafts with adipose tissue-derived stromal/stem cells (ASCs) is proposed to improve the regenerative/restorative ability of the graft and retention. However, long term safety for ASC grafting in proximity of residual breast cancer cells is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of human ASCs derived from abdominal lipoaspirates of three donors, on a human breast cancer model that exhibits early metastasis.Methodology/Principal FindingsHuman MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells represents “triple negative” breast cancer that exhibits early micrometastasis to multiple mouse organs [1]. Human ASCs were derived from abdominal adipose tissue from three healthy female donors. Indirect co-culture of MDA-MB-231 cells with ASCs, as well as direct co-culture demonstrated that ASCs had no effect on MDA-MB-231 growth. Indirect co-culture, and ASC conditioned medium (CM) stimulated migration of MDA-MB-231 cells. ASC/RFP cells from two donors co-injected with MDA-MB-231/GFP cells exhibited a donor effect for stimulation of primary tumor xenografts. Both ASC donors stimulated metastasis. ASC/RFP cells were viable, and integrated with MDA-MB-231/GFP cells in the tumor. Tumors from the co-injection group of one ASC donor exhibited elevated vimentin, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), IL-8, VEGF and microvessel density. The co-injection group exhibited visible metastases to the lung/liver and enlarged spleen not evident in mice injected with MDA-MB-231/GFP alone. Quantitation of the total area of GFP fluorescence and human chromosome 17 DNA in mouse organs, H&E stained paraffin sections and fluorescent microscopy confirmed multi-focal metastases to lung/liver/spleen in the co-injection group without evidence of ASC/RFP cells.ConclusionsHuman ASCs derived from abdominal lipoaspirates of two donors stimulated metastasis of MDA-MB-231 breast tumor xenografts to multiple mouse organs. MDA-MB-231 tumors co-injected with ASCs from one donor exhibited partial EMT, expression of MMP-9, and increased angiogenesis.

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While studies support the notion that MSC therapy has a positive effect on OA patients, there is limited high quality evidence and long-term follow-up. The present study summarizes the specifics of high level evidence studies and identifies a lack of consistency, including a diversity of MSC preparations, and thus a lack of reproducibility amongst these articles' methods.