Abstract
The complexity of mammary tissue and the variety of cells involved make tissue regeneration an ambitious goal. This review, supported by both detailed macro and micro anatomy, illustrates the potential of regenerative medicine in terms of mammary gland reconstruction to restore breast physiology and morphology, damaged by mastectomy. Despite the widespread use of conventional therapies, many critical issues have been solved using the potential of stem cells resident in adipose tissue, leading to commercial products. in vitro research has reported that adipose stem cells are the principal cellular source for reconstructing adipose tissue, ductal epithelium, and nipple structures. In addition to simple cell injection, construct made by cells seeded on a suitable biodegradable scaffold is a viable alternative from a long‐term perspective. Preclinical studies on mice and clinical studies, most of which have reached Phase II, are essential in the commercialization of cellular therapy products. Recent studies have revealed that the enrichment of fat grafting with stromal vascular fraction cells is a viable alternative to breast reconstruction. Although in the future, organ‐on‐a‐chip can be envisioned, for the moment researchers are still focusing on therapies that are a long way from regenerating the whole organ, but which nevertheless prevent complications, such as relapse and loss in terms of morphology.
Highlights
The complexity of mammary tissue and the variety of cells involved make tissue regeneration an ambitious goal
The results demonstrated that the weight and survival ratio in adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and ADSCs + basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-treated fat grafts were significantly higher than the control group (Figures 5 and 6)
ASC, adipose stem cells; body mass indexes (BMI), body mass index [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary com]
Summary
Together with the adipose tissue, the mammary gland contributes the connective tissue and other minor components, to form the breast. As an alternative to these conventional therapies, O'Halloran and collaborators showed the increasing interest in using adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) for breast reconstruction and augmentation (O'Halloran et al, 2017) These cells show a high regenerative potential and commitment mainly in mature adipocytes, which are able to maintain the viability of the transplanted adipose tissue and provide a more natural volume of the mammary gland. This section focuses on the results of six clinical trials (Table 3) on patients who underwent regenerative therapies essentially based on cell-assisted lipotransfer procedures, instead of conventional treatments, such as mastectomy, breast conserving therapy, and pure autologous fat grafting. I: Breast cancer stage I to III e-SVF fat grafting (B), fat grafting with PRP (Platelet-rich plasma) (C)
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