Cells for Cells’ Cellistem®ER is an allogenic UC-MSC therapy incorporated within a Platelet Poor Plasma (PPP) biomatrix for Regenerative Endodontic Procedures (REPs) in mature teeth with apical lesions.
Biomaterial-Stem Cell Therapy for Dental Pulpitis
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“The combination of MSCs and PPP synergistically increases the regeneration potential in endodontic conditions, thus providing a treatment method that preserves the dental pulp and promotes longevity of teeth. If successfully implemented, this therapy could bring affordable regenerative endodontic treatment to a large part of the world, improving global health conditions on a large scale.”
Claudia Brizuela, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
There is a need for advanced treatments based on regenerative endodontics strategies. Dental caries is the most pervasive noncommunicable disease, ranking first cause of permanent tooth decay. While many patients with cavities undergo the complete removal of the pulp (pulpectomy), patients that have received root canal therapy often face problems with the vitality of the dental pulp and the fragility of the tooth in the long term. To avoid complete tooth replacement, advanced treatments able to promote healthy dental pulp vascularization, re-innervation, and dentin deposition are needed. Regenerative Endodontic Procedures (REPs) have sought to achieve this goal, although with limited success. Traditional REPs that use a mature teeth bleeding technique or autologous therapy have drawbacks. The most notable problem affecting the two options is donor variability. Variations in cell concentration and composition, particularly in older patients (whose circulating stem cell concentrations may be lower in quantity and quality), may result in treatment outcome differences. In this context, researchers from Cells for Cells and Universidad de los Andes’ school of dentistry collaborated to create Cellistem®ER, a novel treatment for dental pulp regeneration.
First clinical trial evaluating an allogenic UC-MSC therapy for REPs.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) hold great promise in the dental regeneration field. Bone marrow-MSCs (BM-MSCs) have been predominantly used in this field. However, one of the major drawbacks of using allogeneic BM-MSCs is scalability. Producing large numbers of standardized cell therapy for a condition with such high prevalence is extremely complicated due to BM-MSCs’ relatively low yield. Umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UC-MSCs) do not present this issue. For this reason, Cells for Cells conducted the first controlled clinical study interrogating the safety and efficacy of encapsulated human UC-MSCs in a plasma-derived biomaterial for regenerative endodontic procedures in mature permanent teeth with apical lesions. The study collected clinical data until 12 months after the end of the trial, in which no adverse events were reported, and all 36 patients showed clinical success. These results demonstrated that Cellistem®ER is safe and effective and represents an innovative alternative treatment based on biological principles that promote dentin-pulp regeneration and the health of periapical tissue.