Functional integration of an autologous engineered esophagus in a large-animal model
Natalie Durkin·Paolo De Coppi·Max Arran Beesley·Giulio Cossu·Dominic Scaglioni·Daniele Di Biagio·Roberto Lutman·Conor J. McCann·Soichi Shibuya·Lucinda Tullie·Marco Pellegrini·Simon Eaton·Olumide Ogunbiyi·Stavros Loukogeorgakis·Kornilia Nikaki·Alessandro Filippo Pellegata·Tarek Saleh·Theodoros H. Xenakis·Valerija Karaluka·Xia Huang·Mattia Francesco Maria Gerli·Koji Yamada·Dominika Borselle·Wenhui Song·Matias Garrido Flores·Lei Wu·Sara Mantero·Sahira Khalaf·Vivian S. W. Li·Sergi Castellano·Giulia Patera·Osvaldo Borrelli·J. Ciaran Hutchinson·Marianna Scuglia·George Martin Hall·Paola Bonfanti
Tissue engineering of the esophagus has been limited by stent dependance and poor muscle regeneration. Here we report an integrated strategy to engineer a 2.5-cm esophageal segment by microinjecting autologous pericyte-like myogenic precursors and fibroblasts in a decellularized porcine scaffold to repair circumferential defects in 10-kg minipigs (n = 8), modeling pediatric use. Bioreactor maturation induced a proangiogenic phenotype, with in vivo support from biodegradable intraluminal stents a