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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2015; 7(1): 149-159
Published online Jan 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i1.149
Perinatal stem cells: A promising cell resource for tissue engineering of craniofacial bone
Jia-Wen Si, Xu-Dong Wang, Steve GF Shen
Jia-Wen Si, Xu-Dong Wang, Steve GF Shen, Department of Oral and Craniomaxillofacial Science, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China
Author contributions: All the authors equally contributed to this paper.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81271122 and No. 81371122; Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project, No. S30206
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Xu-Dong Wang, DDS, MD, Department of Oral and Craniomaxillofacial Science, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 639, Zhizaoju Road, Shanghai 200011, China. xudongwang70@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-21-23271251 Fax: +86-21-53072423
Received: July 22, 2014
Peer-review started: July 22, 2014
First decision: August 14, 2014
Revised: August 30, 2014
Accepted: September 16, 2014
Article in press: December 16, 2014
Published online: January 26, 2015
Processing time: 175 Days and 12.9 Hours
Abstract

In facing the mounting clinical challenge and suboptimal techniques of craniofacial bone defects resulting from various conditions, such as congenital malformations, osteomyelitis, trauma and tumor resection, the ongoing research of regenerative medicine using stem cells and concurrent advancement in biotechnology have shifted the focus from surgical reconstruction to a novel stem cell-based tissue engineering strategy for customized and functional craniofacial bone regeneration. Given the unique ontogenetical and cell biological properties of perinatal stem cells, emerging evidence has suggested these extraembryonic tissue-derived stem cells to be a promising cell source for extensive use in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. In this review, we summarize the current achievements and obstacles in stem cell-based craniofacial bone regeneration and subsequently we address the characteristics of various types of perinatal stem cells and their novel application in tissue engineering of craniofacial bone. We propose the promising feasibility and scope of perinatal stem cell-based craniofacial bone tissue engineering for future clinical application.

Keywords: Craniofacial bone regeneration; Bone tissue engineering; Extraembryonic tissue; Perinatal stem cells

Core tip: Given the unique ontogenetical and cell biological properties of perinatal stem cells, emerging evidence has suggested these extraembryonic tissue-derived stem cells to be a promising cell source for extensive use in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. In this review, we summarize the current achievements and obstacles in stem cell-based craniofacial bone regeneration and subsequently we address the characteristics of various types of perinatal stem cells and their novel application in tissue engineering of craniofacial bone. We propose the promising feasibility and scope of perinatal stem cell-based craniofacial bone tissue engineering for future clinical application.