This article discusses the interplay between manmade living tissues and nat
ure's given ones. Through a multidisciplinary approach, new strategies are
outlined to control early inflammatory biochemical events, cell migration a
nd development, and matrix deposition, all of them directed toward the acel
lular component of tissue-engineered constructs. The construct's resident n
onautologous cells are targeted by cell- and humoral-mediated reactions, an
d modulatory strategies are applied to arrest rejection. The fate of ex viv
o virally transfected, genetically engineered cells also is reviewed.