Prospects of cell chemotactic factors in bone and cartilage tissue engineering

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Tissue engineering has brought hope for the repair of bone and cartilage injury. As potential therapeutic molecules for use in tissue engineering, chemokines promote the development of cell-free tissue engineering, avoiding dilemmas faced by cell-based tissue engineering. The main role of chemokines in tissue engineering is to recruit progenitor/stem cells to the site of damaged tissue in vivo and induce differentiation into the corresponding tissue, thus remodeling tissue function. In recent years, many studies have demonstrated the great potential of chemokines in the regeneration and repair of various tissues, such as heart, bone and cartilage tissue.

Areas covered

The classification, structure, and function of chemokines and the application of several common chemokines in diseases, especially in bone/cartilage tissue regeneration are discussed.

Expert opinion

Many studies have demonstrated that the combinatory use of cell chemotactic factors (CCFs) and growth factors can exert synergistic effects on chondrogenesis and osteogenesis. With further understanding of biomaterials and the development of powerful bio-fabrication techniques, intelligent biomaterials will be created to meet the requirements for controlled bioactive factor release and biomimetic architecture. Also, a better understanding of the biological cascade reactions and pathways of CCFs is beneficial to guide the design of innovative biomaterials.

KEYWORDS:

• Chemotactic factors
• recruitment
• chondrogenesis
• osteogenesis

Article highlights

• Cell chemotactic factors can enhance the recruitment of progenitor cells/stem cells to the defect site.

• Cell chemotactic factors exert synergistic effects with other growth factors on osteogenesis/chondrogenesis.

• Some inflammatory chemokines, such as IL-8, play an important role in immune reactions and bone/cartilage regeneration.

• Tissue engineering strategies combining cell chemotactic factors and intelligent biomaterials are promising for bone/cartilage regeneration.

• Cell chemotactic factors and their receptors can be used in targeted therapy for inflammatory and tumor diseases.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (Dengfeng Hospital 2022).