Atala Anthony
Department of Urology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Winston Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA.
Curr Opin Urol. 2006 Jul;16(4):305-9. doi: 10.1097/01.mou.0000232055.20084.f6.
A severe shortage of donor tissues and organs exists, which is worsening yearly given the aging population. Currently, patients suffering from diseased and injured organs are treated with transplanted organs or cells. This paper reviews recent advances that have occurred in regenerative medicine and describes application of new technologies to treat diseased or damaged organs and tissues.
Although most current strategies for tissue engineering depend upon a sample of autologous cells from the diseased organ of the patient, biopsies from patients with extensive end-stage organ failure may not yield enough normal cells. In these situations, stem cells are envisioned as being an alternative source. Stem cells can be derived from discarded human embryos (human embryonic stem cells), from fetal tissue, or from adult sources (bone marrow, fat, skin). Therapeutic cloning offers a potentially limitless source of cells for tissue engineering applications.
Recently, scientists in the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering have applied the principles of cell transplantation, material science, and bioengineering to construct biological substitutes that will restore and maintain normal function in diseased and injured tissues.
鉴于人口老龄化，供体组织和器官严重短缺，且每年都在加剧。目前，患有器官疾病和损伤的患者通过移植器官或细胞进行治疗。本文综述了再生医学的最新进展，并描述了新技术在治疗患病或受损器官及组织中的应用。
尽管目前大多数组织工程策略依赖于从患者患病器官获取的自体细胞样本，但对于患有广泛终末期器官衰竭的患者，活检可能无法获得足够的正常细胞。在这些情况下，干细胞被视为一种替代来源。干细胞可来源于废弃的人类胚胎（人类胚胎干细胞）、胎儿组织或成人来源（骨髓、脂肪、皮肤）。治疗性克隆为组织工程应用提供了潜在的无限细胞来源。
最近，再生医学和组织工程领域的科学家应用细胞移植、材料科学和生物工程原理构建生物替代品，以恢复和维持患病及受损组织的正常功能。
