Is Progress Being Made In Regeneration Of Bone Tissue?

Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 23 Feb 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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In an article in PLoS Medicine, Gert Meijer (University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands) and colleagues discuss what kind of progress there has been in restoring the function of diseased or damaged bone by bone tissue regeneration.

Until recently, say the authors, the use of bone grafts from a different part of the patient's own body has been the number one choice for attempting to restore function. But there are major problems with such grafts - for example, removing bone from a different part of the body can lead to post-operative pain, infection, and abnormal sensations at the removal site. An alternative is to use bone given by a donor - but such bone grafts from donors are less successful and there is a risk of transmitting viruses from the donor to the recipient.

Given all these problems with bone grafts, scientists have attempted to engineer bone tissue. "Bone tissue engineering using bone marrow stem cells has been suggested as a promising technique for reconstructing bone defects," say Meijer and colleagues. Bone tissue engineering has shown success in animal studies.

In their article the authors review the available data on bone tissue engineering in human studies, including clinical research they themselves have conducted. They also discuss possible new directions that need to be exploited to make bone tissue engineering a clinical success.

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Citation: Meijer GJ, de Bruijn JD, Koole R, van Blitterswijk CA (2007) Cell-based bone tissue engineering. PLoS Med 4(2): e9.

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT

CONTACT:

Gert Meijer
University Medical Center Utrecht
Oral Maxillofacial Surgery
Heidelberg 100
Utrecht, Utrecht 3584 CX Netherlands

THE FOLLOWING RESEARCH ARTICLE WILL ALSO BE PUBLISHED ONLINE:

Reporting methods of blinding in randomized trials assessing nonpharmacological treatments

An assessment of blinding methods used in nonpharmacological trials published in one year in high-impact factor journals classifies methods used and describes methods that could overcome some barriers of blinding.

Citation: Boutron I, Guittet L, Estellat C, Moher D, Hrobjartsson A, et al.(2007) Reporting methods of blinding in randomized trials assessing nonpharmacological treatments. PLoS Med 4(2): e61.

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT

CONTACT:

Isabelle Boutron
University Paris 7
Clinical Research
46 rue Huchard
Paris, 75018 France

About PLoS Medicine

PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org/

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org/

Contact: Andrew Hyde
Public Library of Science

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