Editorial
Copyright ©2012 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 21, 2012; 18(47): 6874-6875
Published online Dec 21, 2012. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v18.i47.6874
Regenerative medicine technology applied to gastroenterology: Current status and future perspectives
Giuseppe Orlando
Giuseppe Orlando, Marie Curie Fellow, Department of General Surgery, Section of Transplantation, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC 27157-1095, United States
Author contributions: Orlando G designed and wrote the introductory editorial for the Highlight Topic.
Correspondence to: Giuseppe Orlando, MD, PhD, Marie Curie Fellow, Department of General Surgery, Section of Transplantation, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC 27157-1095, United States. gorlando@wakehealth.edu
Telephone: +1-336-7131423 Fax: +1-336-7137290
Received: August 15, 2012
Revised: October 8, 2012
Accepted: October 15, 2012
Published online: December 21, 2012
Abstract

This special issue of World Journal of Gastroenterology has been conceived to illustrate to gastroenterology operators the role that regenerative medicine (RM) will have in the progress of gastrointestinal (GI) medicine. RM is a multidisciplinary field aiming to replace, regenerate or repair diseased tissues or organs. The past decade has been marked by numerous ground-breaking achievements that led experts in the field to manufacture functional substitutes of relatively simple organs. This progress is paving the ground for investigations that aims to the bioengineering and regeneration of more complex organs like livers, pancreas and intestine. In this special issue, the reader will be introduced, hand-in-hand, to explore the field of RM and will be educated on the progress, pitfalls and promise of RM technologies as applied to GI medicine.

Keywords: Regenerative medicine; Gastroenterology