Problems of creating bioartificial organs and the competition of medical technologies

Abstract

A crucial direction in the development of biotechnology is production of human bioartificial organs and of related products for tissue and organ engineering – constituent components for biofabrications of organs and tissues: human biopolymers of extracellular matrix (ECM), cytokines, biomass of autologous and allogeneic human cells, organoids and tissue spheroids, as well as special equipment – tissue bioreactors, bioprinters, etc. The biotechnology development level today allows creating live ‗spare parts‘ for humans, and there is the prospect of competition with manufacturers of prostheses and implants. The present review considers the unsolved problems of creating bioartificial organs from the perspective of the classical triad of tissue engineering technology – cells, scaffold, and bioreactor. The author focuses on clinical examples and discusses possible strategies and new approaches for growing bioartificial organs inside in vivo bioreactors (hereinafter –regeneratrons) integrated with a living organism. Regeneratrons are the latest generation of tissue bioreactorsrarely used in clinical practice yet with a potential of increasing the efficiency of treatment.