Human arteries engineered in vitro.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
There is a pressing need to develop methods to engineer small-calibre arteries for bypass surgery. We hypothesized that the rate-limiting step that has thwarted previous attempts to engineer such vessels from non-neonatal tissues is the limited proliferative capacity of smooth muscle cells (SMCs), which are the main cellular component of these vessels. Ectopic expression of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit (hTERT) has been shown recently to extend the lifespan of certain human cells. We therefore introduced hTERT into human SMCs and found that the resulting cells proliferated far beyond their normal lifespan but retained characteristics of normal control SMCs. Importantly, using these non-neonatal SMCs, we were able to engineer mechanically robust human vessels, a crucial step towards creating arteries of clinical value for bypass surgery.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- McKee, JA; Banik, SSR; Boyer, MJ; Hamad, NM; Lawson, JH; Niklason, LE; Counter, CM
Published Date
- June 2003
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 4 / 6
Start / End Page
- 633 - 638
PubMed ID
- 12776184
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC1319197
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1469-221X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1038/sj.embor.embor847
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- England