title: Qualifying stem cell sources: how to overcome potential pitfalls in regenerative medicine?
abstract: Regenerative medicine aims to replace lost cells and to restore damaged tissues and organs by either tissue-engineering approaches or stimulation of endogenous processes. Due to their biological properties, stem cells promise to be an effective source for such strategies. Especially adult multipotent stem cells (ASCs) are believed to be applicable in a broad range of therapies for the treatment of multifactorial diseases or age-related degeneration, although the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying their regenerative function are often hardly described. Moreover, in some demanding clinical situations their efficiency remains limited. Thus, a basic understanding of ASCs regenerative function, their complex interplay with their microenvironment and how compromising conditions interfere with their efficiency is mandatory for any regenerative strategy. Concerning this matter, the impact of patient-specific constraints are often underestimated in research projects and their influence on the study results disregarded. Thus, researchers are urgently depending on well-characterized tissue samples or cells that are connected with corresponding donor information, such as secondary diseases, medication. Here, we outline principle pitfalls during experimental studies using human samples, and describe a potential strategy to overcome these challenges by establishing a core unit for cell and tissue harvesting. This facility aims to bridge the gap between clinic and research laboratories by the provision of a direct link to the clinical operating theatres. Such a strategy clearly supports basic and clinical research in the conduct of their studies and supplies highly characterized human samples together with the corresponding donor information.
authors.affiliation: Julius Wolff Institute and Centre for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|Berlin-Brandenburg Centre for Regenerative Therapies, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reinke
authors.affiliation: Julius Wolff Institute and Centre for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|Berlin-Brandenburg Centre for Regenerative Therapies, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dienelt
authors.affiliation: Julius Wolff Institute and Centre for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|Berlin-Brandenburg Centre for Regenerative Therapies, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blankenstein
authors.affiliation: Julius Wolff Institute and Centre for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|Berlin-Brandenburg Centre for Regenerative Therapies, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Georg N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Duda
authors.affiliation: Julius Wolff Institute and Centre for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|Berlin-Brandenburg Centre for Regenerative Therapies, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8750-6324
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geissler
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting
keywords: cell culture/expansion; cell harvesting; core unit; patient-specific data acquisition; regenerative medicine; tissue characterization