title: Human arteries engineered in vitro.
abstract: There is a pressing need to develop methods to engineer small-calibre arteries for bypass surgery. We hypothesized that the rate-limiting step that has thwarted previous attempts to engineer such vessels from non-neonatal tissues is the limited proliferative capacity of smooth muscle cells (SMCs), which are the main cellular component of these vessels. Ectopic expression of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit (hTERT) has been shown recently to extend the lifespan of certain human cells. We therefore introduced hTERT into human SMCs and found that the resulting cells proliferated far beyond their normal lifespan but retained characteristics of normal control SMCs. Importantly, using these non-neonatal SMCs, we were able to engineer mechanically robust human vessels, a crucial step towards creating arteries of clinical value for bypass surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: J Andrew
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.forename: Soma S R
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Banik
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Boyer
authors.forename: Nesrin M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Hamad
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.forename: Laura E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Niklason
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Counter
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000166:cytology; D001158:Arteries / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002455:Cell Division; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000166:cytology; D010641:Phenotype; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D003094:Collagen; D019098:Telomerase