#1-1. Fibroblast Cell Therapy : Current Generation Option

As the concept of personalized/customized treatment evolves, we are ready to face the innovation.

Initiation of this “customized treatment” concept in aesthetics was to provide a premium skin cream selection suitable for specific skin conditions. Then it offered better contents; skin creams with animal collagen or non-personalized human fibroblast growth media. And further more progressed to offer stem cell related products contained in the cream for better skin rejuvenation effect. But currently, we now possess the technology to manufacture a literally personalized premium skin cream for skin rejuvenation containing your own natural collage, customized exclusively from your own skincare physician. How about it?

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In the center of this concept lies the conventional stem cell therapy. Unfortunately, stem cell therapy is still undergoing aggressive debates regarding ethnic and scientific controversies, which keeps the option reluctant for clinical application at the moment.

Fibroblast cells are abundant throughout the body, and are a potential alternative to stem cells. With an intradermal injection of the cultured autologous fibroblasts has already been proven to gradually remodel your aged collagen structures, repair the damaged skin due to sun exposure or repeated scarring condition and offer you skin rejuvenation. It is a relief to hear that fibroblast cell therapy, ‘Lavin’ or ‘Fibrocell’, formerly known as ‘Isolagen’, is FDA approved since 2011.

This product is an autologous cell therapy product composed of a cultured fibroblasts derived from the patient’s own skin. Cells contained in this product should be viable, replication competent and are confirmative to produce healthy collagen in vitro. In order for this product to ensure efficacy, the collagen content testing results must achieve specification for each prepped injection, indicating cells to be biologically active and to produce collagen. Cell suspension must consist of at least 98% fibroblasts and with viability level of at least 85%, prior to release.

As the product is manufactured by propagation and expansion of dermal fibroblasts, physicians need to offer the manufacturers with a healthy skin tissue. Preparation should be ready and office-based. A small sample of skin tissue is removed from the retroauricular area with a small skin punch biopsy with the use of local anesthetics. There are no required amounts or any recommended measures for the skin sample. Collection of three 3-mm punch biopsies would be enough to provide a sufficient number of cells for seeding in culture. The location chosen behind the ear was due to limited exposure to the solar damage and to avoid creating a visible scar. To give a minor tip to the practitioners, for most Koreans who present to you for such a procedure will probably be in need of a blepharoplasty or excision of any sort, which allows us with an excised wasteful skin tissue without creating unnecessary scars.

The tissue needs to be shipped right away in sterile phosphate buffered saline to the manufacturing facility, in a controlled temperature(2~8’C). Upon receipt, the tissue will be processed for washing in antibiotic solution and treated with digestive enzymes that release the cells. A proprietary manufacturing process expands fibroblasts from the obtained skin tissue into tens of millions of new cells in approximately 90 days. Fibroblasts are tested by quality control and released by quality assurance prior to shipment(table below). Each product will contain 1.2mL cell suspension, a concentration of 1.0-2.0 x 107cells/mL.Theproductshouldbeinjectedwithin48hoursofrelease.Smallproportionofcellsarefrozenandpreservedforuseinfollowingpotentiallymultipletreatmentsessionsinthefuture.