If pending clinical trials prove successful, a new discovery published inThe FASEB Journal could represent a major scientific leap toward human tissue regeneration and engineering.
In a research report appearing online, Yale scientists provide evidence to support a major paradigm shift in this specialty area from the idea that cells added to a graft before implantation are the building blocks of tissue, to a new belief that engineered tissue constructs can actually induce or augment the body’s own reparative mechanisms, including complex tissue regeneration.
“With the constant growing clinical demand for alternative vessels used for vascular reconstructive surgeries, a significant development for alternative grafts is currently the primary focus of many investigators worldwide,” said Christopher K. Breuer, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from Yale University School of Medicine/Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT. “We believe that through an understanding of human vascular biology, coupled with technologies such as tissue engineering, we can introduce biological grafts that mimic the functional properties of native vessels and that are capable of growing with the patients.” Breuer also says that patients are currently being enrolled in a first-of-its-kind clinical trial at Yale University to evaluate the safety and growth potential of tissue-engineered vascular grafts in children undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease.
