Stem Cell Therapy: A New Treatment for Burns?

Abstract

Stem cell therapy has emerged as a promising new approach in almost every medicine specialty. This vast, heterogeneous family of cells are now both naturally (embryonic and adult stem cells) or artificially obtained (induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs) and their fates have become increasingly controllable, thanks to ongoing research in this passionate new field. We are at the beginning of a new era in medicine, with multiple applications for stem cell therapy, not only as a monotherapy, but also as an adjunct to other strategies, such as organ transplantation or standard drug treatment. Regrettably, serious preclinical concerns remain and differentiation, cell fusion, senescence and signalling crosstalk with growth factors and biomaterials are still challenges for this promising multidisciplinary therapeutic modality. Severe burns have several indications for stem cell therapy, including enhancement of wound healing, replacement of damaged skin and perfect skin regeneration – incorporating skin appendages and reduced fibrosis –, as well as systemic effects, such as inflammation, hypermetabolism and immunosuppression. The aim of this review is to describe well established characteristics of stem cells and to delineate new advances in the stem cell field, in the context of burn injury and wound healing.

Review on Stem Cell Therapy and their Role in Cancer Treatment

“…ASCs are found in special regulatory niches as self-renewing progenitor cells that are able to produce one or more specialized cell types. ASCs are usually considered to be tissue specific, self-renewing populations of cells which can differentiate into cell types associated with the organ system in which reside [19]. …”

“…Stem cells are clonogenic cells capable of both self-renewal and multilineage differentiation [21] [19]. One of the most important issues in stem cell biology understands the mechanisms that regulate self-renewal.…”

“…The capacity of prolonged self-renewal (proliferation) and multilineage differentiation (asymmetric replication) are characteristics of stem cells [19]. These characteristics are more pronounced in younger sources.…”

“…Multipotent cells produce more than one cell lineage within a closely related family of cells. Unipotent cells only differentiate into a single cell phenotype [19]. Stem cells are quiescent or slowly cycling cells maintained in an undifferentiated state until their participation is required in normal functioning of the organism [24].…”

“…ASCs include mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), epithelial and neural stem cells. HSCs and MSCs originate in the bone marrow and differentiate into endothelium, liver, bone, muscle, skin or others [19]. Adult stem cells are now the basis of essentially all successful stem cell based therapies.…”