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Stem Cells Used to Repair Damage of Breast Surgery
By Roger Highfield Science Editor
The Daily Telegraph
27 May 2006
THREE women have had breast cancer surgery in which their stem cells were implanted to help grow new tissue to repair the damage.
Around the world scientists are investigating the potential of stem cells - parent cells that have the potential to develop into other types, in this case blood vessels to help grafts to take.
Stem cells derived from the women's fat (adipose) tissue was implanted this week after cancer surgery in an attempt to improve reconstruction.
The trial on 20 women is being conducted by a team led by Dr Keizo Sugimachi, the president of Kyushu Central Hospital in Fukuoka Japan, in conjunction with the American company Cytori Therapeutics.
A partial mastectomy, where part of the breast is removed in keyhole surgery followed by radiation treatment, can be effective in the treatment of breast cancer but often results in significant skin damage and tissue loss.
The team believes that the stem cells will create new blood vessels to help fat tissue implanted at the same time to survive. "Adipose tissue is a rich source for stem cells and other regenerative cells that are believed to contribute to repair and healing,'' said Dr Sugimachi.
"Adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells could potentially offer breast cancer patients the option to use their own cells to restore a natural breast contour following surgery, obviating the need for an implant or complicated surgical procedure.''
Yesterday, a woman in her forties, the third this week, took part in a feasibility study on breast cancer patients who had undergone a partial mastectomy, said Dr Kitamura Kaoru, a surgeon.
She said she expected to know within six months if the stem cell reconstructions had been successful.
Each woman had a small volume of fatty tissue removed from one or more of the body's normal deposits, using a glorified version of liposuction. Using the "celution system'' method developed by Cytori, the team extracted and concentrated a stem cell-enriched fraction and injected it into the affected breast after fat had been implanted to replace the cancerous tissue.
"The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the safety of adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells,'' said Dr Marc Hedrick, the president of Cytori. "We believe the effect of the celution output is safe and may improve the appearance of the breast after cancer surgery.''
Dr Hedrick's team at the University of California, Los Angeles, was the first to report that stem cells reside in adipose tissue. The celution system is designed to isolate and concentrate a patient's stem cells from adipose tissue in about an hour.
This year, his team announced animal experiments that suggested that the stem cells, in combination with a fat graft, improved survival of the transplanted tissue.
"Adipose stem and regenerative cells improve the long-term viability of soft tissue transfer, which holds promising implications for breast reconstruction,'' said Dr Hedrick.
In the pre-clinical study, fat tissue transfers were performed in 30 animals, which were divided into three groups of 10. A supplement of adipose stem and regenerative cells was injected into the grafts of half of the animals in each group.
After six months, a statistically significant, three-times greater weight retention was observed in the grafts injected with adipose stem and regenerative cells compared with the control group.
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