Transplantation Research Immunology Group, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Transpl Int. 2011 Mar;24(3):223-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-2277.2010.01182.x. Epub 2010 Nov 10.
In the last two decades, regenerative medicine has shown the potential for "bench-to-bedside" translational research in specific clinical settings. Progress made in cell and stem cell biology, material sciences and tissue engineering enabled researchers to develop cutting-edge technology which has lead to the creation of nonmodular tissue constructs such as skin, bladders, vessels and upper airways. In all cases, autologous cells were seeded on either artificial or natural supporting scaffolds. However, such constructs were implanted without the reconstruction of the vascular supply, and the nutrients and oxygen were supplied by diffusion from adjacent tissues. Engineering of modular organs (namely, organs organized in functioning units referred to as modules and requiring the reconstruction of the vascular supply) is more complex and challenging. Models of functioning hearts and livers have been engineered using "natural tissue" scaffolds and efforts are underway to produce kidneys, pancreata and small intestine. Creation of custom-made bioengineered organs, where the cellular component is exquisitely autologous and have an internal vascular network, will theoretically overcome the two major hurdles in transplantation, namely the shortage of organs and the toxicity deriving from lifelong immunosuppression. This review describes recent advances in the engineering of several key tissues and organs.
在过去的二十年中，再生医学在特定的临床环境中显示出了“从实验室到病床”转化研究的潜力。细胞和干细胞生物学、材料科学和组织工程方面的进展使研究人员能够开发出尖端技术，从而创造出非模块化的组织构建体，如皮肤、膀胱、血管和上呼吸道。在所有情况下，自体细胞都被接种在人工或天然的支撑支架上。然而，这些构建体是在没有重建血管供应的情况下植入的，营养物质和氧气通过从邻近组织的扩散来供应。模块化器官的工程（即，组织以称为模块的功能单元进行组织，并需要重建血管供应）更加复杂和具有挑战性。使用“天然组织”支架已经构建了功能心脏和肝脏的模型，并且正在努力生产肾脏、胰腺和小肠。创建具有定制生物工程器官，其中细胞成分非常自体且具有内部血管网络，从理论上讲将克服移植中的两个主要障碍，即器官短缺和来自终身免疫抑制的毒性。本文综述了几种关键组织和器官工程的最新进展。
