Moving towards in situ tracheal regeneration: the bionic tissue engineered transplantation approach

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Introduction Rationales for tracheal transplantation Historical background Regenerative approach to tracheal replacement Human tissue engineering tracheal replacement ‐ Mesenchymal stem cell derived chondrocytes ‐ Epithelial respiratory cells Ongoing progress Conclusions In June 2008, the world’s first whole tissue‐engineered organ – the windpipe – was successfully transplanted into a 31‐year‐old lady, and about 18 months following surgery she is leading a near normal life without immunosuppression. This outcome has been achieved by employing three groundbreaking technologies of regenerative medicine: (i) a donor trachea first decellularized using a detergent (without denaturing the collagenous matrix), (ii) the two main autologous tracheal cells, namely mesenchymal stem cell derived cartilage‐like cells and epithelial respiratory cells and (iii) a specifically designed bioreactor that reseed, before implantation, the in vitro pre‐expanded and pre‐differentiated autologous cells on the desired surfaces of the decellularized matrix. Given the long‐term safety, efficacy and efforts using such a conventional approach and the potential advantages of regenerative implants to make them available for anyone, we have investigated a novel alternative concept how to fully avoid in vitro cell replication, expansion and differentiation, use the human native site as micro‐niche, potentiate the human body’s site‐specific response by adding boosting, permissive and recruitment impulses in full respect of sociological and regulatory prerequisites. This tissue‐engineered approach and ongoing research in airway transplantation is reviewed and presented here.

This publication has 91 references indexed in Scilit: