The clinical application of cultured cells – are they permanent or just an effective temporary dressing?

Cultured epithelial cells from stem cell niches have been used to heal wounds and to reconstruct damaged corneal surfaces with varying degrees of success over the years. In collaborative work with the Queen Victoria Hospital and The Blond McIndoe Centre in East Grinstead, UK, a range of patients have been treated with cultured epithelial cells. Clinical cases of burns patients, eye patients and soft tissue reconstruction patients will be shown, demonstrating some successes together with longer term follow up. The question is raised as to whether the cultured cells have performed as permanent transplants or merely good biological bandages with short term effects. DNA fingerprinting studies to follow the fate of cultured donor cells, which have led to successful reconstruction of patient corneal surfaces, will shed some light upon the survival of allogeneic cells. The question of survival of autologous cultured epithelial cells is harder to answer. The outcomes for three cases of soft tissue reconstruction (full thickness skin replacement and facial cheek replacement) using autologous cells will go some way to answering this question