Cell sheet engineering for regenerative medicine: From the viewpoint of inflammation

Abstract

Here, we'd like to summarize the brief history of regenerative medicine, finally focusing on cell sheet engineering developed by us. Conventionally, two methods for cell delivery to host tissues have been utilized: one is single cell suspension injection, and the other is the utilization of biodegradable scaffolds, although both have the intrinsic shortcomings. In order to overcome the shortcomings, we initiated the development of a new type of tissue engineering ten years ago. Using temperature-responsive culture surfaces, cultured cells can be harvested as intact sheets by simple temperature changes, thereby avoiding the use of proteolytic enzymes. Cell sheet engineering therefore allows for tissue regeneration by either direct transplantation of cell sheets to host tissues or the creation of thick constructs via the layering of individual cell sheets. In this review, we compare these three with referring to adverse inflammatory effects.