Cell therapy strategies for organ regeneration
(2026) In BMC Medicine 24(1).- Abstract
The development of techniques to culture and differentiate adult and pluripotent stem cells into diverse cell types over the past decades has sparked an increasing interest in the use of cells for organ regeneration. Such therapies aim to replace lost or damaged cells with functional ones. This can be achieved either through tissue engraftment of therapeutic cells or via their paracrine effects on resident cells, thereby offering a potential cure for debilitating degenerative diseases. The development of regenerative cell therapies, however, is ultimately complex. Effective cell therapy requires the delivery and successful engraftment of therapeutic cells to the correct location or sufficient paracrine activity, while ensuring safety is... (More)
The development of techniques to culture and differentiate adult and pluripotent stem cells into diverse cell types over the past decades has sparked an increasing interest in the use of cells for organ regeneration. Such therapies aim to replace lost or damaged cells with functional ones. This can be achieved either through tissue engraftment of therapeutic cells or via their paracrine effects on resident cells, thereby offering a potential cure for debilitating degenerative diseases. The development of regenerative cell therapies, however, is ultimately complex. Effective cell therapy requires the delivery and successful engraftment of therapeutic cells to the correct location or sufficient paracrine activity, while ensuring safety is key to gaining support from funders, caregivers, and patients. A wide variety of cell sources has been used for the development of regenerative cell therapies, ranging from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) that act to stimulate local progenitor cells through their secretome to tissue-specific cell types differentiated from adult or pluripotent stem cells and organoids that engraft in tissues. While cell administration to patients is challenging based on both practical and ethical perspectives, the development of techniques to preserve transplant organs ex situ on machine perfusion devices offers a unique opportunity for studying regenerative cell therapy for organ repair in a safe and controllable environment. The present review addresses the current progress of cell therapy for organ regeneration of the intestine, kidney, liver, lung, and heart and discusses the challenges and opportunities of this potentially curing therapeutic approach.
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- author
- Papamichail, L. ; van der Laan, L. J.W. ; Zadpoor, A. A. ; Lindstedt, S. LU and Hoogduijn, M. J.
- organization
-
- Clinical and experimental lung transplantation (research group)
- LUCC: Lund University Cancer Centre
- WCMM-Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine
- StemTherapy: National Initiative on Stem Cells for Regenerative Therapy
- NPWT technology (research group)
- DCD transplantation of lungs (research group)
- Thoracic Surgery
- publishing date
- 2026-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cell therapy, Engraftment, Organ transplantation, Regeneration, Stem cells
- in
- BMC Medicine
- volume
- 24
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 246
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105035847671
- pmid:41742160
- ISSN
- 1741-7015
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12916-026-04707-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 210b6f69-0468-4960-87df-4972525461cd
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-26 13:54:24
- date last changed
- 2026-08-23 00:49:24
@article{210b6f69-0468-4960-87df-4972525461cd,
abstract = {{<p>The development of techniques to culture and differentiate adult and pluripotent stem cells into diverse cell types over the past decades has sparked an increasing interest in the use of cells for organ regeneration. Such therapies aim to replace lost or damaged cells with functional ones. This can be achieved either through tissue engraftment of therapeutic cells or via their paracrine effects on resident cells, thereby offering a potential cure for debilitating degenerative diseases. The development of regenerative cell therapies, however, is ultimately complex. Effective cell therapy requires the delivery and successful engraftment of therapeutic cells to the correct location or sufficient paracrine activity, while ensuring safety is key to gaining support from funders, caregivers, and patients. A wide variety of cell sources has been used for the development of regenerative cell therapies, ranging from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) that act to stimulate local progenitor cells through their secretome to tissue-specific cell types differentiated from adult or pluripotent stem cells and organoids that engraft in tissues. While cell administration to patients is challenging based on both practical and ethical perspectives, the development of techniques to preserve transplant organs ex situ on machine perfusion devices offers a unique opportunity for studying regenerative cell therapy for organ repair in a safe and controllable environment. The present review addresses the current progress of cell therapy for organ regeneration of the intestine, kidney, liver, lung, and heart and discusses the challenges and opportunities of this potentially curing therapeutic approach.</p>}},
author = {{Papamichail, L. and van der Laan, L. J.W. and Zadpoor, A. A. and Lindstedt, S. and Hoogduijn, M. J.}},
issn = {{1741-7015}},
keywords = {{Cell therapy; Engraftment; Organ transplantation; Regeneration; Stem cells}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Medicine}},
title = {{Cell therapy strategies for organ regeneration}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-04707-0}},
doi = {{10.1186/s12916-026-04707-0}},
volume = {{24}},
year = {{2026}},
}