Single-cell transcriptomics of clinical grade adipose-derived regenerative cells reveals consistency between donors independent of gender and BMI

Abstract Adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs) also referred to as the stromal vascular fraction, provide an ample source of stem cells with widespread regenerative therapeutic use. Being heterogenous in nature, possibly affecting the clinical outcome after stem cell treatment, the ADRC- donor, -BMI, and -gender may have a large impact on ADRC composition and quality but this remains largely unexplored. Herein, we provide a comprehensive single-cell RNA sequencing ADRC mapping across two cell trial intervention studies but found no gender- or BMI-related variations, except for a minor female increase in PI16/CD55-expressing stem cells. Indeed, ADRC heterogeneity was surprisingly minimal between donors. This provides important decision-making support on adipose stem cell donor selection for stem cell treatments, and suggest that donor, gender and BMI should be regarded as less influential.