Biologicals and Fetal Cell Therapy for Wound and Scar Management

Few biopharmaceutical preparations developed from biologicals are available for tissue regeneration and scar management. When developing biological treatments with cellular therapy, selection of cell types and establishment of consistent cell banks are crucial steps in whole-cell bioprocessing. Various cell types have been used in treatment of wounds to reduce scar to date including autolog and allogenic skin cells, platelets, placenta, and amniotic extracts. Experience with fetal cells show that they may provide an interesting cell choice due to facility of outscaling and known properties for wound healing without scar. Differential gene profiling has helped to point to potential indicators of repair which include cell adhesion, extracellular matrix, cytokines, growth factors, and development. Safety has been evidenced in Phase I and II clinical fetal cell use for burn and wound treatments with different cell delivery systems. We present herein that fetal cells present technical and therapeutic advantages compared to other cell types for effective cell-based therapy for wound and scar management

The skin hyperpigmentation index: An objective method of measuring the intensity of hyperpigmentation after sclerotherapy.

Skin hyperpigmentation in chronic venous insufficiency and as a side effect in vein treatments are of great importance for the affected individuals. There are only a few qualitatively limited methods that allow its quantification. Previous techniques to develop a reliable scientific approach to quantification have failed due to the lack of standardized conditions including differences in lighting, distances and equipment. A newly developed measuring method, the "skin hyperpigmentation index", enables a fully automated and standardized quantification of skin hyperpigmentation with dermatoscopic images. The skin hyperpigmentation index defines the ratio of two scores, namely hyperpigmented skin of the affected area and normal sun protected skin from the same patient. This results in a range from 1 (no pigmentation) to 4 (maximum pigmentation). For a practical evaluation of the score, a free skin hyperpigmentation index calculator can be used online, which is accessible to all practitioners (https://shi.skinimageanalysis.com/). The skin hyperpigmentation index is a fully automated method for the quantitative assessment of skin pigmentation which can easily be applied to any skin type with any type of hyperpigmentation. This allows a simple, fast, and standardized quantification of skin hyperpigmentation and is useful for monitoring the progress and planning of whitening therapy