Human Body's Fat Seen As best Source of Stem Cells For Regenerative Therapies

By Gene Marcial, Contributor | 8/28/2011 @ 6:13PM

The human body’s usually unwanted fat tissue may end up, after all, as a very useful contributor to regenerative medicine, a rapidly expanding set of innovative medical technologies that restore human function by enabling the body to repair, replace, or regenerate damaged, aging or diseased cells, tissues, and organs. The use of autologous or one’s own fat, which in itself contains large amounts of various types of stem cells, is a new frontier in medicine that’s widely accepted in Europe and Asia.

Several young biotech firms are already using an adult’s own stem cells not for cosmetic effects alone but to meet the rising demand for anti-aging and rejuvenation treatments, as well as addressing more serious medical conditions, including acute cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, inflammation, arthritis, and hypertension.

Certainly the cell therapy industry is showing great potential for huge growth. “We note that the current business fundamentals in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery are improving,” says Jason Napolitano, analyst at Zacks Investment Research. The leader in the group is Cytori Therapeutics (CYTX), which develops and makes medical products and devices for regenerative medicine.

A smaller biotech firm, IntelliCell Biosciences (SVFC), is a new entry in the game but has made a technological breakthrough in manufacturing “stromal vascular fraction” (SVF) cells derived from a body’s fat that can be used to treat ailments or rejuvenate diseased or damaged tissue and cell function. Under the FDA’s Rule 361, IntelliCells is authorized to commercially sell its SVF stem cells in the U.S. IntelliCell has applied for a patent on the use of ultrasonic cavitaton to break up fat tissue to dramatically increase the yield of SVF cells from just 2 oz. of fat.

Cytori has an array of products, including a device called Celution, which processes a patient’s adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells, for use in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Cytori markets a $100,000 machine to physicians to process 6 oz. of fat that in two hours derives about 50 million SVF cells. The machine breaks up the fat cells through a chemical enzyme. Cytori has also developed a Celution system, which has completed two clinical trials, for applications in cardiovascular disease, wound healing, gastronomical intestinal disorders and urinary incontinence.

“We continue to be positive on Cytori,” says Napolitano, as it is nearing that “inflection point” in the business where the clinical data and new product offerings are starting to show up in the revenue line. The upside to its story, he says, comes as the company transitions from the current cosmetic-and-reconstructive surgery approach to regenerative medicine specifically in the area of both acute and chronic cardiovascular disease.

In the case of IntelliCell, the company focuses more on producing large amounts of SVF cells from just a small amount of autologous fat cells of about 2 oz. IntelliCell CEO Dr. Steven Victor found a method that allows the use of ultrasonic cavitation to increase the yield of SVF cells. By using the ultrasonic method, Dr. Victor says he turns the 2 oz. of fat into SVF stem cells of between 0.5 billion and 1.4 billion. The process takes just about 30 minutes at IntelliCell’s labs. Doctors then use the SVF cells for treatment of various ailments, from regenerative cosmetic procedures to repairing tissues involving damaged knees, back injuries, migraine headaches, and multiple sclerosis.

“It is very apparent that a person’s fat cells are the best source of stem cells, which are stored inactively in one’s fat tissues, for use in the fast growing field of regenerative medicine,” says Dr. Victor, a practicing dermatologist for more than 20 years. He says IntelliCell’s proprietary process makes the most cells from the least amount of fat more efficiently and less expensive than any other competing products.

A study of IntelliCell’s technology by Millipore, a division of Merck AG of Germany, confirmed that it produced an average of 10 times the number of SVF cells containing adult adipose stem cells from less than which the company believes is used by any of its present competition that use enzymes in their process. The study also showed that the SVF cells produced by IntelliCell contain all of the viable cells that are manufactured by competing technologies that use enzymes, such as Cytori.

A GAME CHANGER IN REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

Says Dr. Victor: “We feel our technology is a game changer in the field of regenerative medicine and that SVF cells show incredible promise for a wide range of clinical uses.”

Walter Schenker, president of MAZ Capital Advisors, who owns IntelliCell shares, said his wife and daughter underwent treatment at the IntelliCell lab for knee ailments, which proved successful. “IntelliCell has an exciting technology that uses one’s own fat tissues for the incredible treatment or repair of damaged tissues,” says Schenker.

Dr. Victor says IntelliCell’s labs have treated more than 100 patients this year which all produced successful results. One such patient, Denise Aversano, underwent treatment at one of IntelliCell’s labs for severe and chronic back ailment which had been a source of incessant pain. Prior to the IntelliCell procedure, she had been in physical therapy for years, with no success of alleviating her misery.

Three days after her treatment at IntelliCell on April 22, the pain started to dissipate and eventually went away, to her surprise. Denise said she was able to roll out of bed in the morning for the first time in years. Shopping had always been difficult for her because of her constantly aching back. But after the surgery, she was able to go to the mall to shop for the first time in many years, without pain. ”I was able to enjoy shoping again and was able to pick up packages and carry them to my car with no help from anybody,” she said.

Shares of little known IntelliCell are currently trading at $3.95 a share, down from a 52-week high of $4.45. Cytori’s stock is selling at $3.13, down from a high of $8.44.