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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Summary Sentence: "Mesenchymal Stem Cell Angiogenic Capacity in Amputated Limbs" - Luke Brewster, PhD - Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Emory University
Full Summary: The IBB Breakfast Club seminar series was started with the spirit of the Institute's interdisciplinary mission in mind and started to feature local IBB faculty member's research in a seminar format. Faculty are often asked to speak at other universities and conferences, but rarely present at their home institution, this seminar series is an attempt to close that gap. The IBB Breakfast Club is open to anyone in the bio-community.
Luke Brewster, PhD - Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Emory University
Breakfast Club Seminar Series"Mesenchymal Stem Cell Angiogenic Capacity in Amputated Limbs"
Luke Brewster, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery
Emory University
Patients with critical limb ischemia have inadequate perfusion for resting nutritional needs leading to rest pain, ulceration, and eventually major amputation or death. Approximately half of critical limb ischemia patients do not have revascularization options to prevent major amputation. Prohibitively high mortality rates (up to 40%) and dependent care costs to society mandate a need for innovative therapies to promote limb salvage, preserve patients’ quality of life, and to limit societal costs. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are thought to promote angiogenesis through chemokine and stromal effects on endothelial cells and by modulating the inflammation that retards healing and impairs tissue regeneration. Clinical trials have demonstrated feasibility and potential of MSC therapy to prevent amputation in ischemic patients, but MSCs harvested from this population are thought to be of poor quality due to a combination of age, ambient ischemia, and other medical comorbidities. Since the majority of patients who would benefit from regenerative therapy are older and sicker patients, it remains unclear if their MSCs can be rejuvenated for clinical application. For critical limb ischemia, it is also unclear whether these comorbidities preferentially effect MSC angiogenic, stromal, and/or immunomodulatory qualities.
In collaboration with Todd McDevitt (GTEC), Ian Copland (Emory), and Alex Peister (Morehouse University), we have recognized the large volume of marrow available in amputated limb specimens and are utilizing this tissue for two purposes. First this tissue allows us unique access to the bone marrow of the patient population in need of regenerative therapy. This access is used to fully characterize the angiogenic potential of these cells. Second we hypothesize that the MSCs cultured from ischemic limbs are inflamed and inferior to that of healthy donors, but that optimal culture conditions can improve their “health” and increase the therapeutic utility of autologous MSCs in diseased patient populations.
Our current objective is to identify what deficits exist in the MSCs from ischemic limbs, and then address these deficits through culture rejuvenation to improve the efficacy of cellular therapy in regenerative medicine.
