Toward in situ tissue engineering: chemokine-guided stem cell recruitment

Chemokines are potent stem cell homing and mobilization factors, and artificially increasing the concentrations of specific chemokines at injury sites is an up-to-date strategy to potentiate and prolong the recruitment of endogenous stem cells and to amplify in situ tissue regeneration. We briefly outline the latest progress in stem cell recruitment focusing on the interactions of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with chemokines, complement cascade peptides, bioactive lipids, and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). We present recent advances in state-of-the-art chemokine delivery devices suitable for various applications and critically evaluate the perspectives and challenges of the chemokine-guided in situ strategy for translation in regenerative medicine.