Regenerative Therapies

Regenerative Medicine and Therapies

This area includes a wide range of therapies and possible treatments.  Many of our functional and integrative approaches are regenerative and rejuvenative in nature, so you have many options in regenerative medicine. One of the groups of therapies gaining the most traction is in the area of biologic allograft therapy.

Biologic Allograft Therapy

An allograft is a biologic scaffold, also know as extracellular matrix (ECM) usually composed of laminin, fibrinectin, elastin, and other molecules or cells. An allograft can also be tissue that is transplanted. (Allograft - UCSD CME - University of California San Diego)

Allografts may contain "stem" cells or MSCs (medicinal signaling cells), which  are undifferentiated cells that have the ability to self-replicate and possibly change into specific cell types in the body. Exosomes and other  signalling factors are also part of biologic allografts. These allografts can be injected directly into or near an area of injury.  Cells have a “homing” ability to go to areas of injury due to signals released by injured cells. Once at the site of injury or inflammation they assist in repair of the injury or disease by releasing growth factors and immune modulators that assist in the body’s natural repair process.

Biologic Allografts also contain factors that can affect immune response. In research studies, these immune factors have been shown to lower inflammation.

There are thousands of peer-reviewed publications showing successful use of biologic allograft therapy. However, most biologic allograft products are not FDA approved. The few that are FDA approved are used primarily for wound and orthopedic indications. There are many ways in which human stem cells can be used in research and the clinic and more therapies are becoming possible as the research and development expands in this field.  (https://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/7.htm)

Biologic Allograft Sources

Biologic allograft material is available from a growing number of companies which distribute these products to physicians for use in regenerative medicine therapies. Many products are delivered cryopreserved on dry ice and are strictly compliant with FDA standards under Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations. The few FDA approved and FDA RMAT products available do not currently require cryopreservation and are also strictly compliant with FDA standards under Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations.

Tissue donation is guided by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) for quality, safety and ethics. The products are sourced from the umbilical cord and/or amniotic fluid of healthy donor volunteers painlessly and non-invasively. Each donor is carefully screened for pathogens in order to assure the product is safe.