Potential of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells for Regeneration Medicine: Clinical Application and Usefulness of Fat Grafting

Subcutaneous adipose tissue has recently been attracting attention as a new cell source for regenerative medicine, replacing bone marrow. Among fibroblast-like cells, termed adipose stromal cells, stromalvascular cells, and preadipocytes, cells with potency to differentiate into not only adipocytes and blood vessels but also various lineages are present [1], and they are termed adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs). Subcutaneous adipose tissue has been attracting attention as a new source of tissue stem cell replacing the bone marrow because tissue collection in a large quantity is possible, the rate of cells with multipotency is high, mass culture is easy, and cells have functions equivalent to bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Ishikawa et al. compared ASCs with those from other cell sources (ES, iPS, and bone marrow-derived stem cells), and observed that ASCs serve as a source with both simplicity and safety for clinical application [2].