Human blood-derived endothelial colony forming cells as a new cell therapy for chronic non-healing wounds

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Chronic non-healing wounds are considered a silent and expensive epidemic. In the UK, the NHS treated 2.2 million adult patients with wounds in 2012 alone at a cost of £5.0 billion. In addition, chronic wounds such as diabetic ulcers are difficult to heal and this is burdensome to patients. Therefore, there is an unmet clinical need for new therapies to improve healing rates. This project will use regenerative medicine approaches to improve healing of wounds.80-90% of leg ulcers are caused by vascular disease, and new blood vessel formation is considered a key factor for effective wound healing. Hence, we propose a vascular stem cell therapy for chronic wounds: using cells called endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) isolated from human blood. We and others have demonstrated that ECFCs are a subtype of endothelial progenitor with the most therapeutic potential for blood vessel regeneration. ECFCs injected directly into diseased tissues such as the limb and retina have potential to repair blood vessels and reverse tissue damage. This project is a feasibility study to demonstrate that ECFCs have a therapeutic role in diabetic wounds. To further develop ECFCs as a viable cell therapy, we will develop a Potency Assay to test the efficiency of ECFCs to perform. This is important to establish a quality assurance and to meet regulatory requirements.