Adult Stem Cell Response to Burn Injury

Traumatic and non-traumatic disease processes result in varying tissue injury that can culminate in organ failure and death. Current literature has demonstrated that adult stem cells (ASCs) are mobilized into peripheral circulation as a heterogeneous population of cells following tissue injury. The significance of this heterogeneity has not yet been defined. Other studies have shown ASCs augment tissue repair under appropriate conditions. This proposal will begin to elucidate the mechanism of ASC activation, mobilization and localization to sites of injury. This study will use flow cytometry to identify subsets of ASCs mobilized in response to tissue injury and compare this response to the patient's demographics, comorbidities, in hospital morbidities, and mortality. Patients with thermal burns will be used as a model of tissue injury given the quantity of tissue injured and the robust signal generated from this injury. ASCs are currently being investigated as adjuncts to tissue repair involving a host of tissues, including cardiac, neural, and renal. The identification of a specific subset of ASCs selectively mobilized in response to tissue injury would alter all studies involving ASCs in tissue repair and necessitate the identification and targeting of subsets selectively mobilized in response to injury to each particular tissue.