Adult stem cells for clinical cell therapy

Regenerative medicine is an interdisciplinary approach to repair or replace tissue or organ function lost due to age, disease, trauma or congenital defects. This can be achieved by using biodegradable scaffolds combined with stem cells, which are cells capable of self-renewal as well as production of differentiated cell types. Since the identification of multipotent stem cells in the bone marrow stroma 40 years ago, bone marrow stem cells have become a standard in the field of adult stem cell biology and in regenerative medicine. Recently, adipose tissue has become an attractive alternative source of stem cells since it can be collected in large quantities from liposuction or adipose tissue fragments. Human adipose stem cells are an abundant cell source with therapeutic applicability in pre-clinical studies in diverse fields for repair and regeneration of acute and chronically damaged tissues. However, the stem cells must be thoroughly characterized before utilization in clinical studies.