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Understanding Degeneration and Healing Pathways for Tissue-Engineered Treatment Strategies in Tendinopathy
Ana I Gonçalves1,2,3, Lucrezia Righelli4, Rui L Reis5,6
13B's Research Group, I3Bs - Research Institute on Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Avepark - Zona Industrial da Gandra, Guimarães, Portugal, aigoncalves@icbas.up.pt.
Background:
The multidisciplinary nature of the tendon tissue engineering field brings challenges to move from our basic understanding of tendon biology towards engineering strategies for tendon disorders. Such pathologies present a high risk of inflammation for young patients and limited tissue regeneration capability in ageing patients, leading to painful symptoms and impaired quality of life.
Summary:
Among the complications observed in tendinopathy are degenerative changes in the extracellular matrix and aberrant tissue remodelling, accounting for a huge burden in musculoskeletal disorders worldwide. This underscores the need for early therapeutic interventions to address tissue degeneration effectively. Moreover, the development of novel therapies lacks insufficient tendinopathy models to search drug efficacy or to model healthy and pathological tissue growth events in physiologically relevant microenvironments.
Key Messages:
This review focuses on current treatments for tendinopathy, the biological signals involved in tendon healing, and overlook tissue engineering developments in the field.
Insights
Tendon tissue engineering faces challenges in treating disorders, impacting patients with inflammation and poor regeneration. New models are needed for effective therapeutic development and to understand tissue degeneration.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Regenerative Medicine
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
Background:
- Tendon disorders pose significant health challenges, particularly inflammation in young patients and impaired regeneration in aging individuals.
- These conditions lead to chronic pain and reduced quality of life, highlighting the need for advanced therapeutic strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current treatments for tendinopathy.
- To explore biological signals crucial for tendon healing.
- To identify overlooked advancements in tissue engineering for tendinopathy.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of current tendinopathy treatments.
- Analysis of biological signaling pathways in tendon repair.
- Evaluation of tissue engineering strategies and models.
Main Results:
- Tendinopathy involves extracellular matrix degeneration and abnormal tissue remodeling, contributing to global musculoskeletal disorder burden.
- Existing therapeutic approaches face limitations due to insufficient models for drug efficacy testing and simulating physiological conditions.
Conclusions:
- Effective early therapeutic interventions are crucial to combat tissue degeneration in tendinopathy.
- Development of novel therapies requires improved tendinopathy models that accurately represent physiological microenvironments.
- Tissue engineering holds promise for addressing the complexities of tendon healing and regeneration.
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