title: Corneal tissue engineering: recent advances and future perspectives.
abstract: To address the growing need for corneal transplants two main approaches are being pursued: allogenic and synthetic materials. Allogenic tissue from human donors is currently the preferred choice; however, there is a worldwide shortage in donated corneal tissue. In addition, tissue rejection often limits the long-term success of this approach. Alternatively, synthetic homologs to donor corneal grafts are primarily considered temporary replacements until suitable donor tissue becomes available, as they result in a high incidence of graft failure. Tissue engineered cornea analogs would provide effective cornea tissue substitutes and alternatives to address the need to reduce animal testing of commercial products. Recent progress toward these needs is reviewed here, along with future perspectives.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Chiara E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Ghezzi
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts.|2Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rnjak-Kovacina
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Kaplan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea; D006801:Humans; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*