Implication of stem cells from adipose tissue in wound healing in obese and cancer patients

Certain diseases such as obesity and cancer can cause impaired wound healing. Adipose tissue derived stem cells (ASCs) are a novel field of research. Many studies have evidenced their high degree of safety and potential for wound repair due to their immunomodulatory and tissue-regeneration properties. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of obesity and cancer on the therapeutic potential of ASCs.

We isolated and characterized the phenotype, differentiation capacities, secretome, and in vitro migration capacities of ASCs. Furthermore, we analyze their capacity of in vitro migration associated with the plasma of the different patients.

We observed that ASCs isolated from obese and cancer patients have the same phenotype, cell proliferation, and migration capacities as ASCs derived from healthy donors. However, they do not have the same differentiation potential and exhibit distinct profiles of both pro-inflammatory and regulatory secreted cytokines, which, together with the signals received from the bloodstream, could account for the impaired healing in patients with these diseases.

We consider the ASCs from patients with either obesity or cancer are slightly altered, and this may be the cause of worse wound healing in these patients.