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Harnessing the secreted extracellular matrix to engineer tissues

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 4, pages 357–363 (2020)Cite this article

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As an intermediary between cells and scaffolding biomaterials, the extracellular matrix secreted by the cells offers challenges and opportunities for the design and fabrication of engineered tissues.

Relying on advances in materials science, stem cell biology and bioengineering, engineered tissues are increasingly being considered in a range of fundamental, translational and clinical applications. Engineered tissues can be used for the exploration of fundamental mechanisms in health and disease, as in vitro tissue models for drug screening, and as replacements of tissues damaged by trauma or disease. Building a tissue often requires a material that can mimic the native extracellular matrix (ECM), which provides physical support to the cells and directs a myriad of cellular activities. Hydrogels — a versatile class of biomaterials formed from water-swollen polymer networks — are often used as mimics of the ECM because they can be synthesized to provide precise control over physical properties, such as stiffness, and also be chemically modified to present biologically active peptides. As with the native ECM, the physical and biological properties of hydrogels can be tuned to regulate cellular behaviours. Hydrogels have thus been widely exploited to direct stem cell differentiation and tissue formation1, and as material systems to create tissue and tissue models of disease2,3.

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Fig. 1: Biomaterials inspired by the extracellular matrix and cell-mediated material remodelling.
Fig. 2: Biomaterial-based strategies for harnessing the secreted ECM.
Fig. 3: Applications of the cell-secreted matrix.

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Acknowledgements

U.B. acknowledges postdoctoral-funding support from the Balgrist University Hospital Zurich. M.M.S and E.G. acknowledge support from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform ‘Acellular / Smart Materials – 3D Architecture’ (grant no. MR/R015651/1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ulrich Blache

  2. Department of Orthopaedics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ulrich Blache

  3. Department of Materials, Department of Bioengineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Molly M. Stevens

  4. Centre for Craniofacial and Regenerative Biology, King’s College London, London, UK

    Eileen Gentleman

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  1. Ulrich Blache
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  2. Molly M. Stevens
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  3. Eileen Gentleman
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Correspondence to Molly M. Stevens or Eileen Gentleman.

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Blache, U., Stevens, M.M. & Gentleman, E. Harnessing the secreted extracellular matrix to engineer tissues. Nat Biomed Eng 4, 357–363 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-019-0500-6

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