[Advances in regenerative medicine for skin].

A typical engineered product is autologous cultured epidermal substitute, which is composed of stratified keratinocytes (in USA). There are two types of allogeneic cultured dermal substitute (CDS) composed of fibroblasts combined with a synthetic scaffold (in USA). Another product is allogeneic cultured skin substitute, which is composed of keratinocytes and fibroblasts combined with a collagen gel (in USA). Recently, however, the commercialization of these allogeneic products has been discontinued. There seem to be some problems in the design of these products. Kuroyanagi et al. developed an allogeneic CDS composed of a fibroblast combined with a 2-layered spongy matrix of hyaluronic acid and collagen. A multicenter clinical study on the use of allogeneic CDS was performed in 30 hospitals across Japan as the Regenerating Medical Millennium Project of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The results of clinical study suggest that this type of allogeneic CDS can effectively promote the healing of full-thickness severe skin defects, such as chronic ulcers and burn injuries.