Tissue engineering (TE) is a new interdisciplinary field of applied researc
h combining engineering and biosciences together with clinical application,
mainly in surgical specialities, to develop living substitutes for tissues
and organs. Tissue engineering approaches can be categorized into substitu
tive approaches, where the aim is the ex vivo construction of a living tiss
ue or organ similar to a transplant, vs. histioconductive or histioinductiv
e concepts in vivo. The main successful approaches in developing tissue sub
stitutes to date have been progresses in the understanding of cell-cell int
eractions, the selection of appropriate matrices (cell-matrix interaction)
and chemical signalling (cytokines, growth factors) for stimulation of cell
proliferation and migration within a tissue-engineered construct. So far v
irtually all mammalian cells can be cultured under specific culture conditi
ons and in tissue specific matrices. Future progress in cell biology may pe
rmit the use of pluripotent stem cells for TE. The blueprint for tissue dif
ferentiation is the genome: for this it is reasonable to combine tissue eng
ineering with gene therapy. The key to the progress of tissue engineering i
s an understanding between basic scientists, biochemical engineers, clinici
ans, and industry. Anat Rec 263:372-378, 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.