Is Breast Surgery Key to the Future of Regenerative Medicine?

Breast surgery could play a key role in the future of regenerative medicine according to an article in Wired magazine on Cytori Therapeutics, a biotech company that is trying to use stem cells from fat to help the body rebuild itself. CEO Chris Calhoun says the firm has figured out a way to augment breasts using stem cell–enriched fat tissue.

Cytori’s process for breast augmentation and breast reconstruction involves using liposuction to harvest fat cells, and then injecting the fat into the company’s Celution System, where a centrifuge separates the fat cells from the stem and regenerative cells and prepares the cells for injection. Finally, a surgeon injects the cells into the breast for the enhancement or reconstructive procedure.

The process works because the fat cells in the mixture provide volume and the regenerative cells encourage the growth of a blood supply that the fat cells need to survive.

Cytori has chosen to focus its technology on breasts because they don’t have much function beyond feeding a baby. “The scientific and regulatory hurdles to getting Cytori’s cells into clinical use will be easier to clear for breasts than for other tissue: Breasts simply aren’t as necessary as other organs, so the bar for proving to regulators that the technology works will be lower,” writes the author of the article.

With almost a decade of trials on cell cultures, lab rodents and now humans complete, Cytori believes the same technology it is using for breast procedures could be used to regenerate other damaged tissue, such as in the heart or kidneys. However, Cytori’s system has not been FDA approved, so it can’t be marketed in the U.S., although doctors can purchase it.