Abstract
The life quality of patients with craniofacial malformations is severely affected by the physical disabilities caused by the malformation itself, but also by being subjected to bullying, which leads to a series of relevant psychological and societal effects that have an economic impact on the health sector. Orofacial clefts, notably cleft lip (CL), cleft palate, and microtia, are the most common craniofacial birth defects in humans and represent a substantial burden, both personal and societal. On the other hand, osteoarthritis is a widespread degenerative disease that is becoming more common due to the extension of the human lifespan and to an increase in injuries in young people as a result of their lifestyle. Advances in tissue engineering as a part of regenerative medicine offer new hope to patients that can benefit from new tissue engineering therapies based on the supportive action of tailored 3D biomaterials and the synergic action of stem cells that can be driven to the process of bone and cartilage regeneration. This review provides an update on recent considerations for stem cells and studies on the use of advanced biomaterials and cell therapies for the regeneration of craniofacial congenital malformations and articular degenerative diseases.
Highlights
According to the National Cancer Institute, degenerative disease is a pathology in which the function or structure of the affected tissues or organs worsens over time[1]
Research focused on finding the ideal scaffold that would induce cellular proliferation and cartilage tissue formation. This was proved by Vacanti et al.[79] and Rodriguez et al.[80], who conducted several preclinical studies showing that polyglycolic acid (PGA) + polylactic acid (PLA) would promote in vitro cell proliferation and matrix production, and in vivo cartilage formation after implantation
The first clinical application was done in Shanghai in 2018 by Guangdong Zhou et al.[84], where 5 patients with unilateral microtia were implanted with 3D printed PCL + PGA scaffolds seeded with autologous chondrocytes from the cartilage remnants of the microtia. 2.5 years later, they reported the follow-up of one patient showing the formation of cartilaginous tissue after histologic evaluation, the transition from a stiff graft to a more flexible one over the time, and the degradation of the scaffold without losing the original ear shape
Summary
According to the National Cancer Institute, degenerative disease is a pathology in which the function or structure of the affected tissues or organs worsens over time[1]. Therapeutic efforts for the treatment of degenerative diseases have moved research groups to develop semi-automated, surgically-closed systems to obtain SVF during surgeries with minimal laboratory equipment requirements that will enable the application and implantation of autologous or heterologous MSC for tissue engineering[12]. Previous studies using chondrocytes seeded on collagen or polyglycolic-acid matrixes have shown good mid- to long-term clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) outcomes, as well as the ability to delay degenerative changes in the knee[28,29,30,31].
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