Worldwide stem cell therapy market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.5% from 2015 to 2020, reaching US$330M by 2020. However, limitations such as: (1) ethical issues related to embryonic stem cells, (2) difficulties related with the preservation of stem cells, and (3) recent research findings that the structural contribution of stem cells to regenerated tissues is actually very small, are starting to compromise the promised potential of stem-cell based therapies. Recent research has thus shifted away from cell based therapy to a paracrine hypothesis, investigating the stimulating factors released and received by cells, including: growth factors, cytokines, and extracellular vesicles (EVs; i.e., exosomes and microvesicles containing angiogenic factors, transcription factors, miRNAs). Work proposed here will determine whether myeloid cells, i.e., can be engineered to differentiate (or trans-differentiate) into desired non-myeloid lineages through an orchestrated engineering of EV exchange within our novel biomaterials platform.
Growing evidence suggests that transcriptional regulators and miRNA molecules encapsulated within membrane vesicles (i.e., exosomes, microvesicles) that are released by the parent cell can modify the phenotype of target cells. We propose a platform technology for exosome engineering that will impact tissue repair, regeneration, and organ transplantation.
