Advances in Regenerative Medicine

Abstract

Achieving the long-term goal of routine clinical application of regenerative medicine will require close collaboration between academia, clinicians, regulators, tissue engineers and industry. Currently, some celland gene-based therapies are showing positive signs in the limited number of patients receiving treatment, but such applications are still far from routine and the regulatory landscape remains complex. The potential opportunities for new cell therapies must be explored alongside the ongoing developments of existing techniques to integrate the new opportunities in a truly translational approach. Researchers from academia and industry across the EU gathered at a recent conference to share results and ideas, and to consider the current status and future opportunities for regenerative medicine. Novel biomaterials, cell therapy to repair damaged tissue, and cell and tissue transplantation were discussed alongside industry challenges relating to building a stem-cell company within the current financial and regulatory landscapes. Third-generation biomaterials provide exciting new opportunities for biomimetic, multifunctional scaffolds upon which to regenerate new cells in vivo, according to Nuredding Ashammakhi (Keele University, UK). The aim is to promote healing with cells similar to those which were lost, rather than scar tissue. Ashammaki’s group is working with nanobiopolymers that can be ‘spun’ into nanofibers of various thicknesses and mimic the function of the extracellular matrix. Active agents such as growth factors and anti-inflammatory drugs can also be incorporated in and on the fibers, providing local, timedelayed release of bioactive compounds at the site of regeneration. Prof. Ashammakhi’s group has demonstrated the orientation of such fibers can also be influenced, which is important for the regeneration of tissues such as tendon, ligament and neural tissue. Regenerative medicine can hopefully help address the current issues surrounding transplantation to replace failing organs or tissues. The number of transplant donors is declining, the regulations for organ donation are becoming ever more stringent and recipients of donor material must undergo long-term immunosuppression to prevent rejection. By harnessing stem cells that are maintained through adult life to restore tissue function, transplantation could ultimately be replaced by cell or tissue therapy. An example of this was discussed by Julie Daniels, Director of the Moorfields Eye Hospital Cells for Sight Tissue Bank in London. Her group has developed a method of culturing limbal epithelial stem cells, which reside at the periphery of the cornea in adult humans. By growing the cultured cells either as explants or as a feeder layer on human amniotic membrane, a confluent sheet can be grown in 3 weeks. This can then be transplanted onto the eye of patients. With 60% of treated patients so far maintaining intact grafts and reporting visual improvement and pain relief, the future challenges for this technology include increasing reproducibility, efficacy and scale-up. A further example of stem cells being used to repair injured tissue was described by Roberto Revoltella from the