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Engineering of a Complex Organ

Progress Toward Development of a Tissue-engineered Lung

¹ Laboratory of Regenerative and Nano-Medicine; ² Departments of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases; and ³ Department of Anesthesiology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Joan E. Nichols, Ph.D., Division of Infectious Diseases and the Departments of Anesthesiology and Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory of Regenerative and Nano-Medicine, AIDS Clinical Trials Support Laboratory, Infectious Diseases Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory, 301 University Boulevard, UTMB at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77555-0435. E-mail jnichols{at}utmb.edu

ABSTRACT

Although there has been slow progress in the engineering of the lung, recent advances in the use of stem or progenitor cells leading to the reliable production of component parts of the lung show promise for the future development of engineered lung tissue. Progress toward the goal of developing an engineered lung will only be accomplished through the parallel development of effective and functional tissue-engineered components that include both upper and lower respiratory tract as well as scaffold material suitable for use in the lung. The knowledge acquired from developing each individual component of lung will, over time, be integrated to allow for the development of larger complex organ structures. To accomplish the goal of developing engineered lung for regenerative medicine, many advances will be required in scaffold design and production, including improved biocompatibility, improved elasticity, and better control of scaffold ultrastructure and porosity. Development of new materials designed to meet the anatomic and physiologic needs of the lung must occur before we can begin to realize the goal of engineering functional lung tissue. Better understanding of factors promoting cell adhesion, migration, differentiation, and vascularization of grafts and lung regeneration as a whole is also needed. Advances in the development of mathematical models to examine the conditions that promote lung morphogenesis and tissue growth for computational investigations of tissue development will also be necessary if we are to realistically evaluate the production of lung tissue strictly from the engineering perspective. It is obvious that engineering of lung tissue will require a multidisciplinary approach if we are to eventually succeed in our attempts to produce tissues worthy of clinical application in the future.

Key Words: engineered lung • lung stem cells • matrices for lung engineering • tissue engineered lung