Regeneration of Structured, Full-Thickness Skin, Including Hair Follicles
The tissue engineering company PolarityTE is claiming regrowth of correctly structured skin in pigs, incorporating hair follicles and various glands. The press release and company website are light on some of the more interesting details, such as just how close to natural skin the end result is in this case, but we shouldn't have to wait too long to find out more. Clinical trials are starting this year.
PolarityTE, Inc. today announced pre-clinical results demonstrating that the Company's lead product, SkinTE, regenerated full-thickness, organized skin and hair follicles in third degree burn wounds. The findings represent the first known successful regeneration of skin and hair in full-thickness swine wound models, the standard animal model for human skin. The Company expects to initiate a human clinical trial evaluating the autologous homologous SkinTE construct in the third quarter of 2017. In pre-clinical models of full-thickness burns and wounds, SkinTE demonstrated scar-less healing, hair follicle growth, immediate complete wound coverage, and the progressive regeneration of all skin layers including epidermis, dermis and hypodermal layers.
"These findings using SkinTE demonstrate an entirely new and pragmatic system whereby Polarity has used autologous tissue to regenerate full-thickness skin, hair follicles and appendages for the treatment of burns and wounds. Our revolutionary approach to a new form of regenerative healing offers hope to both burn and wound patients, as well as medical providers who have not seen a significant advance in skin regeneration since the 1980s." Swine models of burns and wounds are known to be predictive of results found in humans due to the unique similarities between swine and human skin. Of note, it is believed that swine skin may be more difficult to regenerate with all layers and appendages (hair and glands), as was done in the studies by PolarityTE, suggesting that the results of these studies may predict similar efficacy in human patients when clinical trials begin later this year.
We should be EXTREMELY skeptical of this. Its only a press release, no scientific data. Even if some of you strongly dislike me personally, you should agree with me on this particular issue. Very skeptical.
It seems they indeed have the capability to initiate a trial, if Milner is as well connected as he should be as the former director of a burn center in a top hospital like Johns Hopkins.
I doubt he left his position after a decade for a hoax.
Either way, as Reason pointed out we'll know soon enough.
Don't feed the troll.
@Antonio,
Agreed,
I just read a brief article about someone doing microsurgery on nanoparticles. The 20's and 30's should be very awesome for nanoparticle technology.
Guys you need to be skeptical about this. This company is claiming things that we're still years if not decades away from achieving. We still cant grow human skin. I would love to be proven wrong and i hope they do prove me wrong, but for now, i'm looking at this press release and thinking "i bet not".
Antonio, it is not trolling to urge caution.
Robert: what do nanoparticles have to do with this press release?
MissKaioshin: I have decided that you are more trouble than you are worth. Do not post here again.
"We still cant grow human skin"
You're wrong to think that.
This is not the first company to create skin in a lab
https://www.mattek.com/products/epidermft/
To give you one example.
This is not the first time someone has implanted lab grown skin unto live animals either.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160401144507.htm
The PolarityTE article says they have successfully completed preclinical studies so that means they have done just that - implanted their skin product (whatever it is, they don't go into detail) into an animal and according to them it was successful.
I thought you were saying we should be skeptical about the efficacy or their ability to run a trial so fast - those would be "valid" concerns, but also quite moot.
It will either turn out to be real, or it will not. Our beliefs in the matter are irrelevant. Certainly if the trials go well we'll get to see some pictures and some advance in the trial, which would be wonderful. People really need this.
How are they going to get this FDA approved in only one year? I guess it hinges on the FDA viewing it as a surgical procedure rather than a drug.
Few years back avita medical came with recell and made out of the world claims to restore skin, and it has turned out that recell doesnt do much other than ,faster healing of wounds,it still forms scars. I hope atleast this is true and works as expected and can heal humanlives.