Regenerative medicine treatments comprise of all cell-based treatments that aim to repair, rejuvenate, replenish or regrow the tissues and cells in our bodies.
At Acorn, we've targeted multiple starting points for cell based treatments and have validated that cells banked with Acorn have potential to be used in multiple strategies.
Near-term
- Cell Extracts: These can include extra-cellular particles, growth factors, exosomes and the valuable molecules secreted from our cells. These applications already have limited availability in cosmetic treatments today.
- PRP is an early example of this type of approach, limited to the particles derived from blood platelets.
- Acorn is currently in trials with a serum derived from stem cell extracts, rich in diverse growth factors, extracellular particles, hyaluronic acid, matrix molecules and exosomes. We anticipate delivering this serum to clients in 2023.
On the Horizon
- Primary Cells: leveraging undifferentiated keratinocytes and fibroblasts to provide replenishment and repair for skin and other tissues.
- Stem Cells: leveraging multi-potent stem cells found in the follicle niche. Acorn has successfully differentiated the follicle stem cells into multiple cell types (including osteocytes, adipocytes, chondrocytes, and neurons, with more potential).
- Induced pluripotent Stem Cells: reprogramming primary cells to an embryonic like pluripotent state. Acorn has successfully created iPSC cell lines from cells found in cryopreserved hair follicles.
Applications
- Topical
- using cells or cell extracts directly on the surface tissues.
- Injections
- using cells or cell extracts on deeper tissues, at the site of injury or directly with internal organs.
- Lab grown tissues
- Using cell culturing techniques to develop new tissues for implantation or replacement.
- 3D bioprinted tissues
- Using our cells as the starting material for complex 3d structures which can replicate the structures inside our bodies like organs and bone.
- + more specialized, condition specific applications
- We can't anticipate every application, especially regarding specific conditions, but many strategies using our cells as the key ingredient continue to be explored every year.
Cell therapy is a rapidly emerging area of medicine with thousands of active trials and research leveraging the power of our cells to heal our body. Many regenerative medicine applications are already in use today in select medical applications, lab research and clinical trials.
We believe that rejuvenating, repairing and regrowing tissues, organs, muscles, bones, skin, neurons and more will quickly become the future of medicine. As research continues to advance, the potential applications will grow and drastically change how we treat some of the biggest health challenges. Banking your cells early means you’ll have access to your own younger cells to leverage once these therapies become available.