Earlier this week, European authorities approved Cytori's Celution Stem Cell System, which in one hour can turn your fat into stem cells that could one day treat disease.
This is true if a little misleading. You can't actually use this device to treat anything yet because no treatments are available using stem cells from fat. But Tom Baker, a spokesman for Cytori, said the plan is to use the machine in human clinical trials for treatment ischemic heart disease. Trials will begin this year, he said.
Cytori works exclusively with stem cells from fat, which are "adult" stem cells. Their controversial younger siblings, embryonic stem cells, come from several-days-old embryos. I interviewed Cytori's president, Marc Hedrick, last year at the Biotechnology Industry Organization meeting, and he said he thinks adult stem cells are the way to go, because they're not as prone dividing out of control and causing tumors. They also eliminate immune response issues because the cells come directly from the patient. Well, of course he's going to say that because he's the president of the company, right? But, his points are well taken. Most scientists say it's too soon to know which types of stem cells, if any, will work as therapies.
Cytori also offers storage of your own adipose cells for future use. The idea is you get lipo, then pay the company to store your unwanted fat in their bank. This to me seems quite unnecessary (just like private cord blood banking is unnecessary) unless you have money to burn.
UPDATE: Tom Baker of Cytori emailed me the following: "We agree with your sentiments regarding storage, in that until there?s evidence showing efficacy of adipose stem cells in specific therapeutic areas, we don?t plan to actively market the stem cell bank. It?s our opinion that banking will be a market driven phenomenon and that the issue should not be forced prematurely."
