An overview of ethical issues in Tissue Engineering

Emerging technologies like regenerative medicine and tissue engineering try to develop promising methods for a variety of incurable diseases by revolutionizing conventional medical approaches in order to achieve the most effective treatment strategies. Current studies in this field are focused on restoration of functionally active organs mimicking the healthy organ structure and function. The regeneration process of a tissue in laboratory composed of the application of biodegradable architecture as scaffolds, desirable cell types, and appropriate growth factors and signaling molecules potentially aimed for totally restoration of an organ or a tissue. According to the main objective of tissue engineering to regenerate a tissue or an organ, which is finally implanted into the human body, ethical considerations have been raised by the advancement of this relatively novel treatment strategy. Therefore, its ethical concerns and challenges should be scrutinized carefully. In this review, we explain the scope of tissue engineering and its clinical applications, along with highlighting ethical challenges using a comprehensive approach.Emerging technologies like regenerative medicine and tissue engineering try to develop promising methods for a variety of incurable diseases by revolutionizing conventional medical approaches in order to achieve the most effective treatment strategies. Current studies in this field are focused on restoration of functionally active organs mimicking the healthy organ structure and function. The regeneration process of a tissue in laboratory composed of the application of biodegradable architecture as scaffolds, desirable cell types, and appropriate growth factors and signaling molecules potentially aimed for totally restoration of an organ or a tissue. According to the main objective of tissue engineering to regenerate a tissue or an organ, which is finally implanted into the human body, ethical considerations have been raised by the advancement of this relatively novel treatment strategy. Therefore, its ethical concerns and challenges should be scrutinized carefully. In this review, we explain the scope of tissue engineering and its clinical applications, along with highlighting ethical challenges using a comprehensive approach.

کلیدواژه ها:

Tissue engineering ، ethical issues