[A review on the application of myoblast on gene therapy and tissue engineering]

Because of its special biological characteristics, myoblast might play a role in gene delivery and cell-to-biomaterial interactions. In this paper, the biological features of myoblast and its application on gene therapy and tissue engineering was discussed.

Documents about proliferation and differentiation of myoblast were reviewed in details. The prospects of its application on gene therapy and tissue engineering were also presented.

Myoblast was important in muscle regeneration. The activation of myoblast to proliferate and differentiate was the very beginning of regeneration after injury. The cultured myoblast had high potential to proliferate, it was ready to fuse with each other and to form myotube (the special behavior of myoblast differentiation). Myoblast transplantation had been studied as a possible treatment for inherited myopathies, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The transplanted myoblast could fuse with host myofibers, so the delivered target gene integrated into host. Several myoblast-mediated gene delivery system had been established, including the gene delivery of human factor IX (hFIX), erythropoietin (EPO) and clony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1). Results from animal experiments demonstrated that myoblast-mediated gene delivery could be used as gene therapy for some inherited diseases. And recently, some authors have shown great interest in the interaction between myoblast and type I collagen gels. It was found that myoblast could keep on proliferating and differentiating in collagen gels and could form discoid, tubular materials.

Myoblast has great importance in gene therapy and tissue engineering. It is suggested that more efforts should be made in this field.