Treating chronic sepsis with adipose derived stem cells

Sepsis is defined as a deregulated immune response to an infection. Despite years of research, no adequate therapy exists and many septic patients die. Especially older people, who survive the acute phase of the disease subsequently develop severe physiological, mental and immunological impairments. In this bilateral project, veterinarian Susanne Drechsler, from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology in Vienna, and medical doctor Tomasz Skirecki from the Medical Center of Postgraduate Education in Warsaw, will investigate whether treatment with adipose-derived stem cells alleviates the chronic consequences of sepsis. The underlying mechanisms of chronic sepsis will be investigated by using old mice (the Austrian team) and so-called humanized mice containing human immune cells (the Polish team). Both teams will use the same animal model of sepsis und study the influence of the disease on physiologic and mental parameters as well as on the immune system and metabolism. This study aims to fill the current knowledge gaps regarding the long -term consequences of sepsis and therapeutic potential of adipose-derived stem cells to optimize their use in clinical trials.