Stem cell technology for tendon regeneration: current status, challenges, and future research directions

Tendon injuries are a common cause of physical disability. They present a clinical challenge to orthopedic surgeons because injured tendons respond poorly to current treatments without tissue regeneration and the time required for rehabilitation is long. New treatment options are required. Stem cell...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Stem cells and cloning 2015-01, Vol.8 (Issue 1), p.163-174
Main Author: Lui, Pauline Po Yee
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Collagen
Growth factors
Joint and ligament injuries
Pain
Review
Risk factors
Stem cells
Tendon injuries
tendon repair
tendon tissue engineering
Tendons
Tissue engineering
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Description
Summary:Tendon injuries are a common cause of physical disability. They present a clinical challenge to orthopedic surgeons because injured tendons respond poorly to current treatments without tissue regeneration and the time required for rehabilitation is long. New treatment options are required. Stem cell-based therapies offer great potential to promote tendon regeneration due to their high proliferative, synthetic, and immunomodulatory activities as well as their potential to differentiate to the target cell types and undergo genetic modification. In this review, I first recapped the challenges of tendon repair by reviewing the anatomy of tendon. Next, I discussed the advantages and limitations of using different types of stem cells compared to terminally differentiated cells for tendon tissue engineering. The safety and efficacy of application of stem cells and their modified counterparts for tendon tissue engineering were then summarized after a systematic literature search in PubMed. The challenges and future research directions to enhance, optimize, and standardize stem cell-based therapies for augmenting tendon repair were then discussed.
ISSN:1178-6957
1178-6957
DOI:10.2147/SCCAA.S60832