Lung Extracellular Matrix as a Platform for Lung Organ Bioengineering: Design and Development of Tissue Engineered Lung

Abstract

Since lung tissue is not able to be reconstructed after substantial injury, lung transplantation often is the only alternative for treatment. Antibiotic-resistant organisms that remain in donor lungs causing infection in the immunosuppressed recipient are among the complications following transplantation. Development of strategies for whole lung regeneration is a pleasing choice particularly in patients with end-stage lung diseases. Reconstruction of lung tissue in vitro for transplantation received increased attention which could deal with the shortage of donor organs. Recent advancements in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have paved the road for beneficial alternative therapies. Our group has extensive experience with regard to the structure of the lung tissue, which makes us to our decision to continue with the preparation of lung, with the aim of developing a new ECM scaffold. Herein, we aim to review the state-of-art and the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine technology highlighting the major achievements toward the production of a bioengineered lung obtained decellularization and recellularization techniques. We have strong hopes that recent developments in the engineering of lung will lead to similar breakthroughs in the engineering of distal lung components in the future.

Keywords: Decellularization; Lung matrices; Lung stem cells; Recellularization; Scaffold.