Cell Therapies for Tendon: Treatments and Regenerative Medicine

Abstract

Tissue engineering and cell therapies are becoming realistic approaches for medical therapeutics and musculoskeletal applications have been among the first to benefit on a large scale. In this chapter, cell sources for tissue engineering for tendon pathologies are addressed. Cell therapies will be described for small defect tendon injuries, such as in the hand, which could adapt well to injectable cell administration along with matrix/scaffold solutions for larger defects. For cell sources, tenocytes, tendon sheath fibroblasts, bone marrow- or adipose-derived stem cells, tendon stem/progenitor cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, amniotic cells, placenta cells, and platelet derivatives have been proposed to enhance tendon regeneration. There are associated advantages and disadvantages for these different strategies. Evolving regulatory requirements have been progressive for use of cells in medicinal practice since the 1950s. Cell banking techniques to expand one cell source to very large stocks have already been described with progenitor cell types in the 1950s for vaccine production. Cellular therapies illustrating human progenitor tenocytes, along with their clinical cell banking potential, are presented as an alternative cell source solution. Potentially interesting therapeutic options can be improved with modern innovation for tendon regeneration and repair.