Multidisciplinary approaches to stimulate wound healing

Abstract

New civil wars and waves of terrorism are causing crucial social changes, with consequences in all fields, including health care. In particular, skin injuries are evolving as an epidemic issue. From a physiological standpoint, although wound repair takes place more rapidly in the skin than in other tissues, it is still a complex organ to reconstruct. Genetic and clinical variables, such as diabetes, smoking, and inflammatory/immunological pathologies, are also important risk factors limiting the regenerative potential of many therapeutic applications. Therefore, optimization of current clinical strategies is critical. Here, we summarize the current state of the field by focusing on stem cell therapy applications in wound healing, with an emphasis on current clinical approaches being developed. These involve protocols for the ex vivo expansion of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells by means of a patented Good Manufacturing Practice-compliant platelet lysate. Combinations of multiple strategies, including genetic modifications and stem cells, biomimetic scaffolds, and novel vehicles, such as nanoparticles, are also discussed as future approaches.

Keywords: mesenchymal stem cells; platelet lysate; skin; wound healing.

Figure 1

Overview of the major steps in the manufacturing of platelet lysate (Mesengen^™).

Figure 2

Flow diagram showing the optimization and standardization phases to isolate and expand in vitro ASCs derived from the mediastinal fat depots.

Figure 3

Optical image of ASCs at passage 3 cultured in PL and displaying the typically spindle-shaped morphology (A). Note that platelet lysate is able to preserve the mesodermal transdifferentiation of ASCs towards the adipogenic (B), osteogenic (C), and chondrogenic (D) lineages. Magnification 5×.