Immune considerations in tissue engineering

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