MARIETTA, Ga., Aug. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — MiMedx Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG), the leading regenerative medicine company utilizing human amniotic tissue and patent-protected processes to develop and market advanced products and therapies for the Wound Care, Surgical, Orthopedic, Spine, Sports Medicine, Ophthalmic and Dental sectors of healthcare, announced today that its latest peer-reviewed scientific study, “Type I and II diabetic adipose derived stem cells respond in vitro to dehydrated human amnion/chorion membrane allograft treatment by increasing proliferation, migration, and altering cytokine secretion” was electronically published in Advances in Wound Care.
The electronic publication of the peer-reviewed article is now available in the Wiley Online Library and can be found at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/wound.2015.0661. The paper was authored by Michelle Massee; Kathryn Chinn; Jeremy J. Lim, PhD; Lisa Godwin; Conan S. Young, PhD; and Thomas J. Koob, PhD. The hard copy publication is expected to follow in a future issue of Advances in Wound Care.
Diabetes is a chronic disease affecting 347 million people globally and causes complications that lead to both patient morbidity and mortality. Up to 25% of all people with diabetes will develop chronic wounds, which without proper treatment, are the cause of 70-84% of lower limb amputations. Scientific literature suggests that adult stem cells, including adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs), play important roles in facilitating wound healing and modulating inflammation in these chronic wounds. Various in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that ADSCs mediate several aspects of the healing cascade through the paracrine secretion of growth factors and cytokines. 
In previously published scientific studies, MiMedx dehydrated human amnion/chorion membrane (dHACM), comprised of gently cleansed, laminated amnion and chorion membranes, has been shown to stimulate cellular proliferation and migration responses in a variety of adult stem cells from normal donors, including bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs), adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs), and hematopoetic stem cells (HSCs). However, limited studies have been performed to characterize the effect of diabetes on stem cells. The results of this recently published study by MiMedx demonstrated that dHACM grafts can biologically stimulate type I and II diabetic ADSCs through a variety of mechanisms that are critical to accelerate healing of chronic wounds.
Study Highlights include:
- dHACM treatment stimulated ADSCs from type I and type II diabetic patients to proliferate and migrate, similar to stem cells from healthy donors.
- dHACM treated diabetic ADSCs modulated secretion of soluble signals, including regulators of inflammation, angiogenesis, and healing.
- Diabetic ADSCs also responded to dHACM treatment with altered expression of immunomodulatory genes, including IL-1α, IL-1β, and IL-1RA.
- dHACM may modulate type I and II diabetic environments by regulating endogenous production of a variety of soluble signals by stem cells, including regulators of inflammation, mitogenesis, and wound healing.
Parker H. Petit, Chairman and CEO, stated, “Our dHACM allografts have been proven effective for treatment of chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers. Published clinical studies clearly demonstrate that MiMedx dHACM allografts recruit adult stem cells and alter their activity in vivo and in vitro. However, before this study, it was not well understood how the effects of diabetes may impair the activity or responsiveness of these reparative stem cells. This study demonstrated that diabetic ADSCs proliferated, migrated, and altered expression of certain cytokines in response to dHACM treatment. Therefore, this is the first reported case demonstrating that diabetic ADSCs respond to novel amniotic membrane therapies, such as our dHACM treatment.”
Bill Taylor, President and COO, commented, “This study also indicated that Type II diabetic ADSCs respond to dHACM by contributing angiogenic factors that stimulate tissue vascularization. The study findings signify that initial upregulation of certain immunomodulatory factors through treatment with dHACM may be necessary for resetting the cascade of normal healing in a chronic wound. Of great significance from the study findings is the fact that despite their diabetic origin, ADSCs in diabetic patients may respond to dHACM to accelerate diabetic wound healing.”
About MiMedx
MiMedx® is an integrated developer, processor and marketer of patent protected regenerative biomaterial products and bioimplants processed from human amniotic membrane. “Innovations in Regenerative Biomaterials” is the framework behind our mission to give physicians products and tissues to help the body heal itself. Our biomaterial platform technologies are AmnioFix®, EpiFix® and CollaFix™. AmnioFix® and EpiFix® are our tissue technologies processed from human amniotic membrane derived from donated placentas. Through our donor program, a mother delivering via full-term Caesarean section birth can elect in advance of delivery to donate the placenta in lieu of having it discarded as medical waste. We process the human amniotic membrane utilizing our proprietary PURION® Process, to produce a safe and effective implant. MiMedx is the leading supplier of amniotic tissue, having supplied over 450,000 allografts to date for application in the Wound Care, Surgical, Orthopedic, Spine, Sports Medicine, Ophthalmic and Dental sectors of healthcare. CollaFix™, our next technology platform we plan to commercialize, is our collagen fiber technology, developed with our patented cross-linking polymers, designed to mimic the natural composition, structure and mechanical properties of musculoskeletal tissues in order to augment their repair. CollaFix™ is the only biological, biodegradable, biomimetic technology that matches human tendon in strength and stiffness.