Systems and methods for treating patients with processed lipoaspirate cells

Patent Number: 7,501,115

Adipose derived stem cells have been very useful therapeutically for a variety of indications, at least from animal studies.  For example, syngeneic adipose mesenchymal stem cells have been demonstrated to improve cardiac parameters in a porcine model of heart failure.  Adipose derived cells have stimulated angiogenesis in models of peripheral artery disease, and ex-US investigations of adipose cells have given some potentially interesting clinical results in patients with multiple sclerosis.

One of the drawbacks with most autologous cell therapies is the need for specialized cGMP clean rooms for cellular processing.  The current patent provides a relatively simple means to circumvent this need by providing a machine that performs the cell extraction in a closed system. 

The patent's first independent claim covers:

"A method of processing a cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells, comprising: removing adipose tissue that comprises a cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells from said patient; introducing the removed adipose tissue that comprises said cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells into a self-contained adipose-derived stem cell processing unit configured to maintain a closed pathway, wherein said self-contained adipose derived stem cell processing unit comprises: a tissue collection container that is configured to receive adipose tissue that is removed from a patient, wherein said tissue collection container is defined by a closed system; a first filter that is disposed within said tissue collection container, wherein said first filter is configured to retain a first component of said unprocessed adipose tissue and pass a second component of said unprocessed adipose tissue, such that said first filter separates said first component from said second component, and wherein said first component comprises a cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells and said second component comprises lipid, mature adipocytes, and saline; a cell collection container, which is configured to receive said first component comprising a cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells from said tissue collection container, wherein said cell collection container is within said closed system; a conduit configured to allow passage of said first component comprising a cell population comprising adipose-derived stem cells from said tissue collection container to said cell collection container while maintaining a closed system; a cell concentrator disposed within said cell collection container, which is configured to facilitate the concentration of said first component comprising a cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells so as to obtain a concentrated population of cells that comprises adipose-derived stem cells, wherein said cell concentrator comprises a centrifuge or a spinning membrane filter; and an outlet configured to allow the aseptic removal of said concentrated population of cells that comprise adipose-derived stem cells; separating and concentrating said cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells from said removed adipose tissue within said self-contained cell processing unit while maintaining said closed pathway; and cooling said concentrated cell population that comprises adipose-derived stem cells"

View this patent on the USPTO website.