Adipose-derived stem and stromal cells for cell-based therapy: current status of preclinical studies and clinical trials

Abstract

The potential use of stem cell-based therapies for the repair and regeneration of various tissues and organs offers a paradigm shift that may provide alternative therapeutic solutions for several diseases. The clinical use of either embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells remains limited because of cell regulations, ethical considerations and the requirement for genetic manipulation, although these cells are theoretically highly beneficial. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) appear to be an ideal population of stem cells for practical regenerative medicine, given that they are plentiful, of autologous tissue origin and thus non-immunogenic, and are more easily available because of minimal ethical considerations. Although ASCs originate from mesodermal lineages, recent preclinical studies have demonstrated that the use of ASCs in regenerative medicine is not limited to mesodermal tissue, but can also extend to both exodermal and endodermal tissues and organs. This review summarizes and discusses current preclinical and clinical data on the use of ASCs in regenerative medicine and discusses the future applications of such cell-based therapies.