Blood vessels engineered from human cells.
Tissue engineering has made considerable progress in the past decade, but advances have stopped short of clinical application for most tissues. We postulated that an obstacle in engineering human tissues is the limited replicative capacity of adult somatic cells. To test this hypothesis, the effectiveness of telomerase expression to extend cellular lifespan was assessed in a model of human vascular tissue engineering. Telomerase expression in vascular cells isolated from elderly patients enabled the successful culture of engineered autologous blood vessels. Engineered vessels may one day provide a source of bypass conduit for patients with atherosclerotic disease.
Poh
Melissa
M
Duke University Medical Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Boyer
Matthew
M
Solan
Amy
A
Dahl
Shannon L M
SL
Pedrotty
Dawn
D
Banik
Soma S R
SS
McKee
J Andrew
JA
Klinger
Rebecca Y
RY
Counter
Christopher M
CM
Niklason
Laura E
LE
D000368:Aged; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000201:enzymology; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000166:cytology; D019098:Telomerase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D014162:Transfection
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D019098:Telomerase