Biomedicines (Jan 2023)

Adipose Tissue and Adipose-Tissue-Derived Cell Therapies for the Treatment of the Face and Hands of Patients Suffering from Systemic Sclerosis

  • Anouck Coulange Zavarro,
  • Mélanie Velier,
  • Robin Arcani,
  • Maxime Abellan Lopez,
  • Stéphanie Simoncini,
  • Audrey Benyamine,
  • Quentin Gomes De Pinho,
  • Raphael Coatmeur,
  • Jiucun Wang,
  • Jingjing Xia,
  • Ludovica Barone,
  • Dominique Casanova,
  • Françoise Dignat-George,
  • Florence Sabatier,
  • Brigitte Granel,
  • Jérémy Magalon,
  • Aurélie Daumas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11020348
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 2
p. 348

Abstract

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Adipose tissue is recognized as a valuable source of cells with angiogenic, immunomodulatory, reparative and antifibrotic properties and emerged as a therapeutic alternative for the regeneration and repair of damaged tissues. The use of adipose-tissue-based therapy is expanding in autoimmune diseases, particularly in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc), a disease in which hands and face are severely affected, leading to disability and a decrease in quality of life. Combining the advantage of an abundant supply of fat tissue and a high abundance of stem/stromal cells, fat grafting and adipose tissue-derived cell-based therapies are attractive therapeutic options in SSc. This review aims to synthesize the evidence to determine the effects of the use of these biological products for face and hands treatment in the context of SSc. This highlights several points: the need to use relevant effectiveness criteria taking into account the clinical heterogeneity of SSc in order to facilitate assessment and comparison of innovative therapies; second, it reveals some impacts of the disease on fat-grafting success; third, an important heterogeneity was noticed regarding the manufacturing of the adipose-derived products and lastly, it shows a lack of robust evidence from controlled trials comparing adipose-derived products with standard care.

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