Regenerative Medicine

From the use of nanomaterials in the development of bioartificial Tissues to the repair of brain tissue in mice by using human-derived stem cells, the field of regenerative medicine saw remarkable progress in 2012. The advances effectively brought the field centre stage in biomedicine and renewed interest in its primary objective—to develop bioartificial replacements for tissues damaged by injury or disease—the success of which had once been considered remote. In fact, the Nobel Committee, recognizing the pioneering efforts of two researchers—Shinya Yamanaka and John B. Gurdon—awarded them the 2012 Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their contributions to the field.

Cell and Bioartificial Tissue Transplantation.

Regenerative medicine has been based largely on biochemical techniques that induce tissue regeneration directly at the site of damage and on transplantation techniques that employ differentiated cells or stem cells, either alone or as part of a bioartificial tissue. Cells used for transplants and bioartificial tissues have been almost always autogeneic (self) to avoid rejection by the patient’s immune system.

Examples of autogeneic transplants using differentiated cells have included blood transfusion with frozen stores of the patient’s own blood and repair of the articular cartilage of the knee with the patient’s own articular chondrocytes (cartilage cells) that were expanded in vitro (amplified in number by using cell-culture techniques in a laboratory). An example of a tissue that was generated for autogeneic transplant was the human mandible (lower jaw). Functional bioartificial mandibles were made by seeding autogeneic bone marrow cells onto a titanium mesh scaffold loaded with bovine bone matrix, a type of extracellular matrix (ECM) that had proved valuable in regenerative medicine for its ability to promote cell adhesion and proliferation in transplantable bone tissues. Functional bioartificial bladders also were successfully implanted into patients. Bioartificial bladders were made by seeding a biodegradable polyester scaffold with autogeneic urinary epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells.

There have been few clinical examples of allogeneic (nonself) cell and bioartificial tissue transplants. However, the two most common allogeneic transplants have included blood-group-matched blood transfusion and bone marrow transplant. Allogeneic bone marrow transplants traditionally have been performed following high-dose chemotherapy, which destroys all the cells in the hematopoietic system in order to ensure the death of all the cancer-causing cells. (The hematopoietic system is contained within the bone marrow and is responsible for generating all the cells of the blood and immune system.) This type of bone marrow transplant has been associated with a high risk of graft-versus-host disease, in which the donor marrow cells attack the recipient’s tissues. Another type of allogeneic transplant involves the islets of Langerhans, which contain the insulin-producing cells of the body. This type of tissue has been transplanted from cadavers to patients with diabetes mellitus, but recipients require immunosuppression therapy to survive.

Regeneration Using Stem Cells.

Studies on experimental animals have been aimed at understanding ways in which autogeneic or allogeneic adult stem cells can be used to regenerate damaged cardiovascular, neural, and musculoskeletal tissues in humans. Among adult stem cells that have shown promise in this area are satellite cells, which occur in skeletal muscle fibres in animals and humans. When injected into mice affected by dystrophy, a condition characterized by the progressive degeneration of muscle tissue, satellite cells stimulated the regeneration of normal muscle fibres. In 2012 ulcerative colitis in mice was treated for the first time with intestinal organoids (organlike tissues) derived from adult stem cells of the large intestine, raising hope for persons with inflammatory bowel diseases, which had been very difficult to treat.

In many cases, however, adult stem cells have not been easily harvested from their native tissues, and they have been difficult to culture in the laboratory. In contrast, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can be harvested once and cultured indefinitely. Moreover, ESCs are pluripotent, meaning that they can be directed to differentiate into any cell type, which makes them an ideal cell source for regenerative medicine.

Studies of animal ESC derivatives have demonstrated that these cells are capable of regenerating tissues of the central nervous system, heart, skeletal muscle, and pancreas. Derivatives of human ESCs were likely to produce similar results, although these cells have not been used clinically and could be subject to immune rejection by recipients. The question of immune rejection was bypassed by the discovery in 2007 that adult somatic cells (e.g., skin and liver cells) can be converted to ESCs. This was accomplished by inserting into the adult cells genes that encode proteins capable of reprogramming the cells into pluripotent stem cells. Examples of these reprogramming factors included Oct-4 (octamer 4), Sox-2 (sex-determining region Y box 2), and Nanog. These reprogrammed adult cells, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, represented potential autogeneic sources for cell transplantation and bioartificial tissue construction. Such cells have since been created from the skin cells of patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer disease and have been used as human models for the exploration of disease mechanisms and the screening of potential new drugs. In one such model reported in 2012, neurons derived from human iPSCs were shown to promote recovery of stroke-damaged brain tissue in mice and rats, and in another, cardiomyocytes derived from human iPS cells successfully integrated into damaged heart tissue following their injection into rat hearts.

Tissue Scaffolds and Soluble Repair Factors.

Scaffolds and soluble factors, such as proteins and small molecules, have been used to induce tissue repair by undamaged cells at the site of injury. These agents protect resident fibroblasts and adult stem cells and stimulate the migration of these cells into damaged areas, where they proliferate to form new tissue. The ECMs of pig small intestine submucosa, pig and human dermis, and different types of biomimetic scaffolds have been used clinically for the repair of hernias, fistulas (abnormal ducts or passageways between organs), and burns. Factors in topical agents, such as platelet-derived growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, and hyaluronate, have been found to accelerate the repair of acute and chronic skin wounds and reduce scarring. Growth factors derived from glial cells, a type of nonneuronal cell found in the nervous system, were shown in animal models of Parkinson disease to protect neurons that make the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Screens of synthetic agents have aimed to find small molecules that suppress scarring, activate resident stem cells, or reprogram somatic cells into stem cells at the site of tissue damage. One such molecule was reversine, which reprogrammed skin fibroblasts into a stem-cell-like state, enabling them to participate in the regeneration of injured muscle.

Computer-Aided Design and Bioprinting.

Advances in computer-aided design and nanoparticle- and nanofibre-based bioprinting, and an increasing ability to mimic microenvironments that promote the self-organization of cells into tissues, have enabled the creation of progressively sophisticated bioartificial tissues and organs. Stem cells seeded into nanofibre scaffolds, for example, have been used to create bioartificial articular cartilage and menisci (the incomplete fibrocartilage disks that stretch across joint cavities). In 2012 researchers were able to promote significant regeneration in injured mouse latissmus dorsi muscle by seeding muscle stem cells onto strips of ECM from pig bladders and then mechanically “exercising” the tissue by slow contraction and expansion of the strips. Perhaps most remarkably, however, researchers created a bioartificial jellyfish by seeding rat heart muscle cells into an elastic silicone polymer that had been cut to form eight arms projecting from a central disc. The heart cells contracted and relaxed to effectively replicate the pumping action of jellyfish arms, highlighting the vast potential in applications for regenerative medicine.