A therapy using adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) may be a possible treatment for critical limb ischemia.

A team of researchers from the Czech Republic, Poland, and the United States, who developed the potential therapy, took advantage of ASC secreted factors to create a therapeutic factor concentrate (TFC) for promoting blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) and revascularization, explains a media release from Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair.

“Recognition that the functional component of adult stem cells can be attributed to secreted factors led us to explore the therapeutic benefit of delivering these factors,” says study co-author Vaclav Prochazak, MD, PhD, MSc, from the University Hospital Ostrava, in the release.

“The purpose of our study was to test the efficacy of a single intramuscular administration of human TFC using laboratory animals modeled with subacute CLI,” he adds.

Twenty-seven adult rabbits were surgically modeled with CLI, and five additional rabbits were used as controls. The CLI rabbits received either placebo, low-dose TFC, or high-dose TFC by injection into their left hind legs. One week after surgery, limb perfusion was tested using a Doppler probe and blood samples were analyzed for growth factors and cytokines.

A tissue assessment of the CLI-modeled animals after 35 days revealed that the tissue reperfusion in the high dose group was double that of the placebo group, the release continues.

“Our results demonstrate that TFC represents a potent therapeutic combination for patients with CLI, many of whom are at-risk for amputation of their affected limb,” the authors wrote in their study, which will appear in a future issue of Cell Transplantation and is currently available online.

“We envision having an off-the-shelf product that would be immediately available for administration with little preparation and that would improve quality of life and reduce morbidity, such as amputation, for a significant patient population,” the authors continue.

The researchers are currently planning a clinical trial with patients who are not candidates for conventional revascularization, the release notes.

{Source(s): Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair, EurekAlert]