Bone Regeneration

Bone regeneration has traditionally relied on either harvesting of autologous bone graft from the iliac crest or administration of high levels potentially serious complications in certain patients. In response, physicians have therefore turned to cell-based therapies to augment bone regeneration. Studies performed using ELA cells strongly support the cell’s ability to facilitate notable osteogenesis.

Independent analyses demonstrate that ELA cells are cable of potent osteogenic differentiation in vitro and in vivo. For example, implantation in combination with demineralized bone matrix of ELA- or MSC-based preparations into the biceps femoris muscle of athymic rats resulted in new bone formation, with histologic scores six weeks post-surgery of 1.83 ± 0.17 and 1.00 ± 0.29, respectively (Wuxi Apptec, 2010; Figure 1).

Independent in vitro findings with expanded ELA cells complement the data described above. As an example, culture-expanded cells from an older ELA cell donor (passage 5; 60 year old donor) appear to harbor a ~2-3 superior osteogenic differentiation ability than MSCs (passage 2; 24 year old donor; Lonza 2013; Figure 2), highlighting the potency with which ELA cells can differentiate down the osteogenic lineage.

The data above provide good evidence that whether freshly-isolated or culture-expanded, ELA cells harbor a significant osteogenic capacity.