Rica Tanaka
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Tokyo, Japan
Title: Simple and effective vascular and tissue regenerative cell therapy for non-healing wound patients.
Biography
Biography: Rica Tanaka
Abstract
The quality and quantity of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) is known to be impaired in various diseases, thereby raising declined tissue repair in autologous EPC therapy. We have recently disclosed a newly developed serum free ex vivo expansion system called Quantity and Quality Control Culture System (QQc) using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PbMNC) to potentiate the vasculogenic property of diabetic EPCs for enhanced vasculogenesis and tissue repair from small amount of blood. QQc system of autologous peripheral blood MNC (MNC-QQc) can expand EPCs to 10 times and the vasculogenic function of MNCs up to 40 times compared to non-culutred MNCs in diabetic patients. Our new technology will provide the methodological clue to overcome the insufficient efficacy of naïve mononuclear cell therapy for diabetic non- healing wounds. From our data, 150cc of peripheral blood will be necessary to replace the existing EPC therapy. With this new technology, we will be able to establish outpatient based simple, safe and effective vascular and regenerative therapy for diabetic patients. We have validated the safety and efficacy of human MNC-QQc cell therapy for non-healing wounds prior to clinical trial overcoming the new regenerative therapy law recently passed in Japan. With approval from the government, we have now started the clinical trial. Under the new law, stem cell therapy approval for government reimbursement will be conducted rapidly. Our goal is to deliver an outpatient based simple, safe and effective vascular and regenerative therapy for patients with non-healing wounds by year 2020.