For many injuries and disorders, the body's biologic “scaffolding” structure is damaged and cannot be addressed with cell or gene therapies alone. Tissue therapeutics are treatments that leverage engineered tissues for medical applications, such as helping to restore, maintain, improve, or replace damaged tissues and organs. The process involves designing and manufacturing living tissues by combining cells and biomaterials to help create structural therapy.
Ted’s constant back pain kept him awake at night, preventing him from enjoying life with his family. Years of military service and rigorous physical strain left him searching for an option to finally find relief.
He took part in a tissue therapeutics clinical trial that helped repair damaged cells and tissues in his lumbar spine. It changed everything. Today, he is mostly pain-free, able to exercise, play with his children, and enjoy activities without fear of excruciating and debilitating pain returning.
“I am so thankful I was accepted into the study. I cannot express my gratitude to the Mayo Clinic community enough for enabling me to live fully again.”
How Patients Receive Tissue Therapeutics
Tissue therapeutics are implanted as three-dimensional constructs that often combine cells with biomaterial scaffolds. These products must be delivered directly to, or near, the target tissue. In most cases, delivery requires surgical implantation or localized administration under tightly controlled conditions.
The process involves preserving scaffold integrity, maintaining cell viability, and managing immune interactions. Effective delivery helps elicit a physiological response and protect against immune rejection, which can help repair damaged tissues and restore bodily functions.
On the Horizon for Tissue Therapeutics
Expanding the use of tissue therapeutics will depend on advances in manufacturing and distribution, as well as methods to ensure durability and safety. This is a rapidly evolving field that includes the use of emerging technologies, such as CRISPR-based gene editing techniques, to enable improved outcomes in areas like xenotransplantation models, addressing organ waitlists.
To accelerate this progress, ARM brings together developers, regulators, and researchers to support collaborative initiatives and create shared resources, such as our whitepaper on tissue therapeutics.
ARM’s whitepaper highlights the current state of this tissue therapeutics by outlining its scientific potential and future impact.
Explore how gene therapy inserts, modifies, or replaces genetic material to correct inherited conditions or treat acquired diseases at the molecular level..
Discover how technologies like CRISPR enable precise, targeted changes to the genome, offering durable solutions for monogenic diseases.
Discover how patient or donor-derived cells are used to restore, replace, or modulate function—already in use for cancer and immune disorders.
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