Regenerative Medicine for Respiratory Diseases

Tissue engineering is an important technology for supporting regenerative medicine, producing tissues in incubation bottles in a tissue culture laboratory. In addition, a newer approach to regeneration of tissues in the human body, called in situ tissue engineering, has been devised in Japan and is attracting attention as a new means of bringing out our body’s potential. New therapeutic methods for chronic respiratory disorders such as pulmonary emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis, as well as for primary pulmonary hypertension for which there have been no curative treatment measures available, are currently under investigation. This paper provides a full account of the developments. In situ tissue engineering causes regeneration of the lung parenchyma itself within the lungs using various growth factors and collagen, which serves as a scaffold for tissue regeneration. A new type of tracheal prosthesis has been in clinical use since 2002 in which new technique was applied to induce autologous tissue regeneration.