Engineering Integrative Stem Cell and Biomaterial Therapies for Peripheral Artery Disease

Abstract

Because of their potential to regenerate tissues and organs, stem cells garner extensive interest worldwide for treating a wide range of degenerative diseases. In numerous efforts, a variety of stem cell formats have been considered for therapeutic purposes to combat such pathologies, one being vascular-related diseases. In particular, the prevalence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) has steadily increased with the growth of the aging population in many first-world countries. Considering this disturbing trend as well as the obesity epidemic and the ballooning population growth in third-world nations, the burden of PAD is expected to increase worldwide to alarming levels in the coming decades. The advent of stem cell treatments could stymie this burden by alleviating the complications and improving upon the less-than-satisfactory outcomes from current standard-of-care surgical/pharmacological interventions for PAD. This chapter reviews the relevant, cutting-edge clinical and animal model research efforts in the field and explores the remaining questions as they pertain to convergence technologies that may provide the potential for stem cells to reverse PAD-induced tissue damage. Harnessing and translating this potential to create more viable and efficacious PAD treatments should be of paramount global and public health concern.