The article "IRF9 Affects the TNF-Induced Phenotype of Rheumatoid-Arthritis Fibroblast-Like Synoviocytes via Regulation of the SIRT-1/NF-κB Signaling Pathway" [Cells Tissues Organs. 2020;209(2-3):110-119; https://doi.org/10.1159/000508405] by Fan Jiang, Hong-Yi Zhou, Li-Fang Zhou, Wei Zeng, and Li-Han Zhao has been retracted by the Publisher and the Editors.After publication of this article, concerns were raised about the integrity of the data presented in Figure 1. Specifically, panels in Figure 1c had previously been published by different author groups representing different experimental conditions.Figure 1c "control" panel is the same as Figure 3b panel "Anti-miR-C FITC-A" in [1], Figure 3b panel "NC siRNA" [2], and Figure 3a panel "SNORD44" in [3].Figure 1c "TNF" panel is the same as Figure 3a panel "Anti-miR-C" in [1].Figure 1c "TNF + sh-Ctrl" panel is the same as Figure 3a panel "Anti-miR-186" in [1] and Figure 3b panel "empty vector" in [3].Figure 1c "sh-IRF9" panel is the same as Figure 3b panel "miR-C FITC-A" in [1] and Figure 3b panel "blank" in [2].Figure 1c "TNF + sh-IRF9" panel is the same as Figure 3d panel "Anti-miR-186 FITC-A" in [1].Figure 1c "TNF + sh-SIRT1" panel is the same as Figure 3a panel "miR-C FITC-A" in [1] and Figure 3a panel "control" in [3].Figure 1c "TNF + sh-IRF9 + sh-SIRT1" panel is the same as Figure 3a panel "miR-186 FITC-A" in [1] and Figure 3a panel "empty vector" in [3].The authors did not respond to requests to comment on the concerns and provide the raw data within the given timeframe despite multiple attempts of contact. The matter was raised to the corresponding author's institution who did not respond to our request for an investigation. Given the severity of the concerns raised, this article is being retracted. The authors have not responded to our correspondence regarding this retraction despite multiple attempts of contact.

Background: Cell-based therapies are revolutionizing medicine by offering regenerative and immunomodulatory capabilities beyond traditional treatments. These therapies hold promise for diseases, such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, and diabetes. However, clinical translation is challenged by immune rejection, reduced cell viability, and poor control over therapeutic delivery. Summary: Biomaterials can provide innovative solutions to these barriers by creating supportive environments, enhancing cell survival, and enabling targeted, sustained delivery. This review highlights advances in biomaterial strategies – including lipid and polymeric nanoparticles, hydrogels, fibrous scaffolds, and layer-by-layer assemblies – and their application across T-cell, macrophage, stem cells, and islet cell therapies. Each material class offers unique physicochemical and/or mechanical properties that can be tuned to meet the specific needs of different cell types and therapeutic contexts. Key Messages: Biomaterials provide critical tools for enhancing the efficacy and precision of cell-based therapies. Despite substantial progress, challenges remain with selecting the appropriate biomaterial for specific applications and retaining biocompatibility long term. The ongoing development of patient-specific and adaptable biomaterials holds promise for further breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. This review underscores the potential of biomaterials to drive forward the field of cell therapy, opening new avenues for treating a wide range of diseases.

Background: Early human embryonic development sets the trajectory for health across the life course. Any aberrations in this process are associated with a heightened burden of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Accordingly, a comprehensive understanding of early human embryogenesis, together with the development of faithful research models, is pivotal for elucidating pregnancy physiology and pathophysiology. However, as embryonic development occurs within the uterus, direct observation has been severely limited by ethical and technical constraints. Summary: To overcome these challenges, in vitro culture (IVC) systems have emerged as powerful platforms for studying early embryonic development under controlled conditions. These systems support human embryo development to the primitive streak anlage stage (near the 14-day ethical boundary), whereas nonhuman primate models sustain growth to neurulation and early organogenesis (up to E25), thereby bridging the gap between implantation and complex organ formation. In parallel, studies of rare early-stage primate embryos obtained from clinical procedures have yielded complementary insights into these developmental processes. In this review, we summarize recent progress in early primate embryo development research, emphasize the critical role of IVC systems in elucidating developmental processes, and discuss the integration of these experimental models with spatiotranscriptomic atlases to establish a more comprehensive framework for early human embryonic development. Key Messages: Primate IVC systems offer accessible platforms for high-resolution dynamic observation and perturbation, while in vivo embryos provide physiologically faithful references. Coupling these complementary approaches reconstructs the trajectory of early human development, establishing a robust framework to decipher the causes of birth defects and facilitate mechanism-guided drug screening.

Introduction: Human endometrium is one of peculiar tissues capable of scarless regeneration after injury during every menstrual cycle, birth, or surgery. However, it is disputable whether this feature should be attributed to specific regulatory factors of wound environment and menstrual fluid (MF) or to tissue-specific properties of endometrial mesenchymal stromal cells (eMSCs), which are pivotal participants of wound healing. We aimed to elucidate the role of eMSC tissue specificity in wound healing. Methods: We evaluated changes of eMSC transcriptomic profile in response to MF and their potency to granulation tissue formation in vitro in comparison with those of stromal cells from scar-forming organs – dermal and adipose MSC (dMSC and adMSC). Results: We have found that MF contains numerous inflammatory factors and induces a profound inflammatory response in both eMSC and dMSC, but a tissue-specific component was identified in their transcriptome profiles. Furthermore, transcriptomic tissue specificity was stable and present prior to MF treatment as well as after it, so we validated our findings against in vivo single-cell RNA-sequencing data from Human Protein Atlas. Tissue specificity traits were related to embryonic development and morphogenesis, suggesting a putative contribution of “developmental imprinting” in its establishment. Using in vitro models of fibroplasia, angiogenesis, and extracellular matrix deposition, we showed that eMSC lack the ability to induce these processes in contrast to dMSC and adMSC. Finally, we refined transcription factors (TFs) from stable tissue-specific genes that may explain the unique properties of eMSC and endometrium itself and can serve as potential targets to induce regeneration in scar-forming organs. Conclusion: eMSCs possess tissue-specific properties including stable expression of TFs that may explain the scarless regeneration of endometrium.

Plain Language SummaryHearing loss often happens when special cells in the inner ear are damaged, and they cannot grow back. To understand how these cells form, scientists now use small three-dimensional “mini-organs” called inner-ear organoids. These are grown from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are normal body cells reprogrammed to behave like early stem cells that can make many cell types. In this study, we compared two liquids, called culture media, that keep iPSCs healthy before they start developing into inner-ear organoids. One medium was mixed in the laboratory (called FTDA), and the other was a commercial product (PeproGrow™ human embryonic stem cell medium). The iPSCs came from hair-root cells donated by volunteers. We watched how they changed into early stages of ear development over several weeks. Both media supported healthy growth, but the results during development were slightly different. Cells grown in PeproGrow™ showed stronger signs of becoming inner-ear-like cells, while those in FTDA stayed in a more stem-like state for longer. These results show that the choice of growth medium can have a big impact on how reliably inner-ear organoids form. This helps scientists design better experiments for studying hearing and possible future treatments.

The article "Bathysa cuspidata Extract Modulates the Morphological Reorganization of the Scar Tissue and Accelerates Skin Wound Healing in Rats: A Time-Dependent Study" [Cells Tissues Organs. 2015; 199(4):266-277. https://doi.org/10.1159/000365504] by Reggiani V. Gonçalves, Rômulo D. Novaes, Marli C. Cupertino, Bruna M. Araújo, Emerson F. Vilela, Aline T. Machado, João P.V. Leite and Sérgio L.P. Matta has been retracted by the Publisher and the Editors.After the publication of this article, concerns were raised about the integrity of some of the data presented. Specifically, 4 panels in Figure 5 of this article are the same as 4 panels of Figure 1 of a subsequently published article by the same author group, representing different treatment groups, with image rotation and cropping in some instances, [1]. In addition, 2 panels of Figure 5 of this article are the same as 2 panels of Figure 4 of a previously published paper by the authors, representing different treatment groups, with image rotation [2].When asked to comment, the authors responded to the above concerns and stated that these errors occurred during the formatting of the figures due to the use of previously published figures as templates during training. Editorial review concluded that the errors highlighted issues in the data management and, consequently, the conclusions based on that data may not be reliable, and therefore, this article is being retracted.The authors have not responded to our correspondence regarding this retraction despite multiple attempts of contact.

Dr. Alisa Isaac is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. She leads research on innovative biomaterials that harness the body’s own immune response to promote healing and tissue regeneration after injury. Her work has been recognized with national honors, including the University of Texas System Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative Mentored Research Award and the Rising Stars in Engineering Award. Through her research and mentorship, Dr. Isaac aims to advance regenerative medicine solutions that improve recovery from traumatic injuries.Juhi Samalis an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Samal obtained her Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland, Galway and then was a Regeneration Next Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University. Her laboratory explores the role of glycans in regulating neuroinflammation in acute and chronic central nervous system disorders and using this information to inform the design of engineering material platforms to promote tissue repair.Ana I. Gonçalvesis an Assistant Researcher at the Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine (UMIB) at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS) in the University of Porto, Portugal. She obtained her PhD in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells in December 2017, and her research is focused on strategies to study tendon biology and associated pathways that impair healing and regeneration. She co-edited one Book on Tendon Regeneration (Elsevier, 2025). Dr. Gonçalves has been part of numerous European and National projects as core team member and is an active member of International Societies such as TERMIS-EU and EORS.Dr. Christina Bailey-Hytholtis the Leonard P. Kinnicutt Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Her research focuses on engineering human-based in vitro models and designing drug delivery vehicles for prenatal and women’s health. Dr. Bailey-Hytholt has been the recipient of several honors and awards including Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Science (2022), an Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare in Massachusetts award from The Women’s Edge (2023), and an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) 35 under 35 award (2023). Dr. Bailey-Hytholt received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from WPI, earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, receiving Brown University’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching and School of Engineering Outstanding Thesis Award, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Genomic Medicines and Biologics Drug Product Development at Sanofi.Chao Ma, Ph.D. is an Assistant Staff at the Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-oncology within the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. His original work explores how bone marrow microenvironments contribute to disease progression and treatment resistance and builds up in vitro tools to screen novel CAR T-cell immunotherapies. Dr. Ma holds a B.S. in Biotechnology (2013) and a Ph.D. in Animal Biotechnology (2017) from Northwest A&F University. His laboratory is currently focused on the development and leverage of multidisciplinary approaches that combine engineering with biology and medicine for tissue engineering, disease modeling, and therapy screening.

Karger Publishers and the editors of Cells Tissues Organs would like to thank the reviewers for their ongoing support in reviewing manuscripts for our Journal in 2025. This year we have chosen not to disclose the names of our reviewers to preserve the principle of anonymity inherent to the single-blind peer-review we follow. Even so, this should not be in our way to sincerely thank all contributing reviewers who have volunteered their time, effort, and expertise in benefit of the quality of the manuscripts we received and published in 2025. Individual reviewers can still claim their personal “Certificate of Review” via the Journal’s manuscript submission system.

Introduction: The underlying mechanisms by which these exosomes facilitate healing in deep burns remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of antler stem cell (AnSC)-derived exosomes (AnSC-exos) on burn wound healing and to provide new insights for the clinical treatment of deep burn wounds. Methods: AnSC-exos were isolated through ultracentrifugation and subsequently administered to rat models with severe third-degree burn injuries. Wound closure rates, histological analysis, immunohistochemistry results and quantitative real-time PCR analysis were performed. In vitro, we assessed the effects of AnSC-exos on the proliferation and migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Results: Our results convincingly demonstrate that AnSC-exos significantly enhance the speed and quality of healing in burn wounds. At 28 days post-burn injury, we found elevated levels of CD31 and CD163 in the healing tissues, accompanied by a reduction in iNOS levels. Additionally, the relative mRNA expression levels of ColA2/Col3A1 and TGF-β1 were significantly lower than the AnSC-exos group compared to the control group (p < 0.001, p < 0.0001), while the relative mRNA levels of MMP3 were significantly higher (p < 0.05). In vitro, AnSC-exos promotes the proliferation and migration of HUVECs. Conclusion: These results suggest that AnSC-exos facilitate burn wound repair by modulating M2 macrophage polarization, promoting angiogenesis, inhibiting myofibroblast production, and enhancing collagen deposition.