Cell Journal (Apr 2020)

Long-Term Follow-Up Of Autologous Fibroblast Transplantation For Facial Contour Deformities; A Non-Randomized Phase IIa Clinical Trial

  • Amir Bajouri,
  • Zahra Orouji,
  • Ehsan Taghiabadi,
  • Abdoreza Nazari,
  • Atefeh Shahbazi,
  • Nasrin Fallah,
  • Parvaneh Mohammadi,
  • Mohammad Rezvani,
  • Zahra Jouyandeh,
  • Fatemeh Vaezirad,
  • Zahra Khalajasadi,
  • Mahshid Ghasemi,
  • Aslan Fanni,
  • Sara Haji Hosseinali,
  • Ahad Alizadeh,
  • Hossein Baharvand,
  • Saeed Shafieyan,
  • Nasser Aghdami

DOI
https://doi.org/10.22074/cellj.2020.6340
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 22, no. 1
pp. 75 – 84

Abstract

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Objective Recently, the promising potential of fibroblast transplantation has become a novel modality for skin rejuvenation. We investigated the long-term safety and efficacy of autologous fibroblast transplantation for participants with mild to severe facial contour deformities. Materials And Methods In this open-label, single-arm phase IIa clinical trial, a total of 57 participants with wrinkles (n=37, 132 treatment sites) or acne scars (n=20, 36 treatment sites) who had an evaluator’s assessment score of at least 2 out 7 (based on a standard photo-guide scoring) received 3 injections of autologous cultured fibroblasts administered at 4-6 week intervals. Efficacy evaluations were performed at 2, 6, 12, and 24 months after the final injection based on evaluator and patient’s assessment scores. Results Our study showed a mean improvement of 2 scores in the wrinkle and acne scar treatment sites. At sixth months after transplantation, 90.1% of the wrinkle sites and 86.1% of the acne scar sites showed at least a one grade improvement on evaluator assessments. We also observed at least a 2-grade improvement in 56.1% of the wrinkle sites and 63.9% of the acne scar sites. A total of 70.5% of wrinkle sites and 72.2% of acne scar sites were scored as good or excellent on patient assessments. The efficacy outcomes remained stable up to 24-month. We did not observe any serious adverse events during the study. Conclusion These results have shown that autologous fibroblast transplantation could be a promising remodeling modality with long-term corrective ability and minimal adverse events (Registration Number: NCT01115634).

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