Long-Term Follow-up of Autologous Fibroblast Transplantation for Facial Contour Deformities, A Non-Randomized Phase IIa Clinical Trial

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Regenerative Medicine, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran

2 Metabolic Diseases Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

Abstract

Objective
Recently, the promising potential of fibroblast transplantation has become a novel modality for skin rejuvenation. We investigated the long-term safety and efficacy of autologous fibroblast transplantation for participants with mild to severe facial contour deformities.
Materials and Methods
In this open-label, single-arm phase IIa clinical trial, a total of 57 participants with wrinkles (n=37, 132 treatment sites) or acne scars (n=20, 36 treatment sites) who had an evaluator’s assessment score of at least 2 out 7 (based on a standard photo-guide scoring) received 3 injections of autologous cultured fibroblasts administered at 4-6 week intervals. Efficacy evaluations were performed at 2, 6, 12, and 24 months after the final injection based on evaluator and patient’s assessment scores.
Results
Our study showed a mean improvement of 2 scores in the wrinkle and acne scar treatment sites. At sixth months after transplantation, 90.1% of the wrinkle sites and 86.1% of the acne scar sites showed at least a one grade improvement on evaluator assessments. We also observed at least a 2-grade improvement in 56.1% of the wrinkle sites and 63.9% of the acne scar sites. A total of 70.5% of wrinkle sites and 72.2% of acne scar sites were scored as good or excellent on patient assessments. The efficacy outcomes remained stable up to 24-month. We did not observe any serious adverse events during the study.
Conclusion
These results have shown that autologous fibroblast transplantation could be a promising remodeling modality with long-term corrective ability and minimal adverse events (Registration Number: NCT01115634).

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