The Use of Stem Cells in Burnt Wound Treatment
                     The Use of Stem Cells in Burnt Wound Treatment
Introduction
• Nearly half a million people, from across the 
world, seek medical help for accidental burns 
and are hospitalised in severe conditions. 
These are fatal burns, often causing death. 
However, there are many other kinds of burns, 
which may leave the patients physically 
disabled for their entire lifetime.
What are Burns?
Burns are therefore, accidental skin cell 
damages brought on by fire, chemicals, 
electricity or radiation, leaving the skin:
• terribly pained,
• swelled and
• charred.
Treatments for burn wounds depends upon the 
type of the burn and how deep it is covering the 
body.
Conventional Burn Wound Care
• A medical health practitioner always follows 
the thumb rule of cleaning the burnt area first 
with cool water and then applying gel upon it. 
However, use of autologous skin grafting 
technique was the first known severe burn 
wound treatment, reported in 1881. 
• Until now skin grafting technique happens to 
be a standard practice to treat severe burnt 
cases.
Conventional Burn Wound Care
• Earlier, in severely burnt cases (full-
thickness burn or 3rd degree burn, which 
damages the epidermis and the entire 
dermis), doctors discarded and considered 
the burnt skin to be a medical waste. 
• However, since it contains viable MSCs 
(burnt-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells), 
that can be used for skin regeneration and 
wound-healing, in present times these cells 
are characterised and expanded in vitro, 
which is then incorporated into an 
established wound coverage material.
Introduction of Cell-Based Burn Wound Therapy
• In is interesting to know that the culture of 
cell-based therapy for burn wounds was first 
introduced after Rheinwald and Green, 
revolutionised the cell culture technique in 
1975. So, for the very first time, clones of 
some of the major cell types was used during 
an autograft, where epithelial sheets of cells 
were produced to restore the functional 
capacity of the skin.
Research Activities on Burn Wounds Cell Therapy
• Such an encouraging report gave rise to 
worldwide research activities on cell therapy 
for burn wounds healing process. For 
example, a Singapore-based biotech 
company Cell Research Corporation, carried 
out a test which involved growing stem cells 
on synthetic scaffolds, preventing three burn 
victims from undergoing the painful process 
of skin grafting. Several tissue engineering 
approaches have been applied in skin-tissue 
fabrication and tissue substitute including 
autologous split-thickness skin graft. 
Autograft micro-skin transplantation has 
been widely used as skin-graft therapy in 
full-thickness skin defect.
Aim of Cell-Based Therapy in Burn Wound Care
The effectiveness of stem cell therapy in burn 
wounds have already been tested earlier. With 
further examination, the stem cell therapists 
ultimately aimed to see:
• If these cells have the capacity to reduce the 
effect of the systemic inflammatory response 
and stop the infection from spreading
• An easy and early wound closure
• Speedy healing
Aim of Cell-Based Therapy in Burn Wound Care
• Regeneration of the skin and its peripheral 
tissues
• See if the potential usage of Epithelial stem 
cells (EpSCs) with an effective application of 
Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), derived 
from the umbilical cord and cord blood, 
covers the wound and completes the healing 
and skin regeneration process.
Epithelial Stem Cell Therapy on Burn Wound Cover
To prove an early and efficient wound coverage 
along with the satisfactory epithelialization, 
cultured epithelial autografts, (EpSCs and 
keratinocytes combined) is used to facilitate cell 
delivery with the aim to regenerate the 
epidermal layer of the burned skin.
But there are several factors that limit the 
potentially of this technique:
Epithelial Stem Cell Therapy on Burn Wound Cover
• the time necessary to culture cells
• the reliability of graft ‘take’
• the vulnerability to infection,
• long-term durability, and
• the cost of the treatment.
Mesenchymal Stem Cell therapy for Burn Wound Healing
Post-burn injury wound healing is of 
paramount importance and allogeneic 
mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is one of 
the potential treatments for severe burn 
injuries:
• MSCs can grow easily
• They can maintain the tissue culture
• They can migrate to support the 
endogenous cells
• Additionally, its immunomodulation 
capacity allows it to withstand acute 
cellular rejection, especially in massive 
burnt wounds
Future Directions
• However, researches state that when burn 
wounds are treated with allogenic MSCs, the 
recovery is speedy and there are no adverse 
treatment complications.
• Clinical studies demonstrate that cell-based 
therapy can be considered as an important 
alternative for burn wound management. 
However, there are still certain scientific and 
technical factors that need to be resolved 
before full potential of the cellular devices are 
facilitated. In the meantime, more evidence is 
required for research at large to define the 
clinical efficacy and safety of cell therapy in 
burns.
About CordlifeIndia
• CordlifeIndia provides services like stem cell banking, 
cord blood stem cell banking.
• CordlifeIndia is a consumer healthcare company catering to the mother and child 
segment.
• We provide reliable healthcare solutions through innovation, technological 
advancement and commitment to quality.
References:
• https://www.cordlifeindia.com/blog/use-stem-cells-burnt-wound-treatment/
• http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12063-burns
• http://blog.medstarwashington.org/2017/06/05/research-burn-care-stem-cells/#:~:text=A%20major
%20problem%20in%20burn,and%20help%20them%20heal%20faster
• http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5971426/
• https://cells4life.com/stem-cells-to-help-burns-victims-case-study/
• http://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13287-019-1465-9