Prospects of cell chemotactic factors in bone and cartilage tissue engineering.

INTRODUCTION: Tissue engineering has brought hope for the repair of bone and cartilage injury. As potential therapeutic molecules for use in tissue engineering, chemokines promote the development of cell-free tissue engineering, avoiding dilemmas faced by cell-based tissue engineering. The main role of chemokines in tissue engineering is to recruit progenitor/stem cells to the site of damaged tissue in vivo and induce differentiation into the corresponding tissue, thus remodeling tissue function. In recent years, many studies have demonstrated the great potential of chemokines in the regeneration and repair of various tissues, such as heart, bone and cartilage tissue.

AREAS COVERED: The classification, structure, and function of chemokines and the application of several common chemokines in diseases, especially in bone/cartilage tissue regeneration are discussed.

EXPERT OPINION: Many studies have demonstrated that the combinatory use of cell chemotactic factors (CCFs) and growth factors can exert synergistic effects on chondrogenesis and osteogenesis. With further understanding of biomaterials and the development of powerful bio-fabrication techniques, intelligent biomaterials will be created to meet the requirements for controlled bioactive factor release and biomimetic architecture. Also, a better understanding of the biological cascade reactions and pathways of CCFs is beneficial to guide the design of innovative biomaterials.