Applications of 3D Bioprinted-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Healthcare

Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and advancements in three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technology enable scientists to reprogram somatic cells to iPSCs and 3D print iPSC-derived organ constructs with native tissue architecture and function. iPSCs and iPSC-derived cells suspended in hydrogels (bioinks) allow to print tissues and organs for downstream medical applications. The bioprinted human tissues and organs are extremely valuable in regenerative medicine as bioprinting of autologous iPSC-derived organs eliminates the risk of immune rejection with organ transplants. Disease modeling and drug screening in bioprinted human tissues will give more precise information on disease mechanisms, drug efficacy, and drug toxicity than experimenting on animal models. Bioprinted iPSC-derived cancer tissues will aid in the study of early cancer development and precision oncology to discover patient-specific drugs. In this review, we present a brief summary of the combined use of two powerful technologies, iPSC technology, and 3D bioprinting in health-care applications.

Regenerative Engineering: Current Applications and Future Perspectives

“…Conversely, animal models properly replicate the 3D structure of tissues and organs but their distinct multicellularity ( 140 ) decreases their efficacy in predicting human toxicology and adverse reactions ( 141 ). Therefore, bioengineered constructs have revolutionized medical research by providing a physiologic indistinguishable in vitro model of human tissue along with the ability to provide more accurate data on the pathophysiology of disease, drug efficacy, and drug toxicities ( 142 ). These simplified platforms provide us the capacity for preclinical testing of both specific disease entities as well as engineered constructs on a small scale.…”

Biofabrication in Congenital Cardiac Surgery: A Plea from the Operating Theatre, Promise from Science

“…While the adult, mature, differentiated myocardial cells are much easier and less risky to use than stem cells, they possess the disadvantage of reduced viability and proliferation [ 118 , 119 ]. In addition, their limited availability and the need for a highly invasive procedure to obtain these cells makes their use practically infeasible and advocates stem cells [ 120 ]. Stem cells offer the advantage that they could differentiate into different cell lineages depending on the microenvironment, growth factors, and nature of the substrate.…”

“…In addition to UCSCs, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) also can be explored for use in cardiac tissue engineering and bioprinting [ 120 ]. There were several studies published on successful differentiation of iPSCs to cardiomyocytes and more recently to subtype-directed differentiation of human iPSCs to atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes [ 129 ].…”

“…There were several studies published on successful differentiation of iPSCs to cardiomyocytes and more recently to subtype-directed differentiation of human iPSCs to atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes [ 129 ]. Somatic cells such as fibroblasts or keratinocytes that are easy to obtain could be reprogrammed into iPSCs, which could then be differentiated into cardiomyocytes or other cell lineages [ 120 ]. However, the inherent challenges associated with the reprogramming of somatic cells into iPSCs and requirement of excellent purification systems [ 130 ] limit their widespread use at present.…”

Application of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Disease Modeling and 3D Model Construction: Focus on Osteoarthritis

“…More importantly, 2D cultures are often unable to generate mature cells that can precisely recapitulate adult disease models [95,97]. Thus, 3D disease modeling is a possible solution with its ability to display cell-cell interactions and provide a better insight into disease mechanisms in a realistic 3D setting [98].…”