Tissue engineering (TE) is continuously evolving assimilating inputs from adjacent scientific areas and their technological advances, including nanotechnology developments that have been spawning the range of available options for the precise manipulation and control of cells and cellular environments. Simultaneously, with the maturation of the field, TE has a growing and marked impact in other fields, such as cancer and other diseases research, enabling tri-dimensional (3D) tumor/tissue models of increased complexity that more closely resemble living tissue dynamics, playing a decisive role in the development of new and improved therapies. Nevertheless, TE is still struggling with translational issues. On this matter, the advent of personalized and precision medicine has opened new perspectives, particularly with the striking evolutions enabled by 3D bioprinting technologies. Based on a modified methodology grounded in the past years' approach, we have identified and reviewed some of the most high-impact publications on the topics that are revolutionizing TE and helping to define the future directions of the field, namely: (1) New trends in TE: Personalized/precision regenerative medicine and 3D bioprinting, (2) Contributions of TE to other fields: microfabricated tissue-engineered 3D models for cancer and other diseases research, and (3) Diagnostic and theranostic tools: monitoring and real-time control of TE systems.

Musculoskeletal diseases are one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Among them, tendon and ligament injuries represent an important aspect to consider in both athletes and active working people. Tendon and ligament damage is an important cause of joint instability, and progresses into early onset of osteoarthritis, pain, disability and eventually the need for joint replacement surgery. The social and economical burden associated with these medical conditions presents a compelling argument for greater understanding and expanding research on this issue. The particular physiology of tendons and ligaments (avascular, hypocellular and overall structural mechanical features) makes it difficult for currently available treatments to reach a complete and long‐term functional repair of the damaged tissue, especially when complete tear occurs. Despite the effort, the treatment modalities for tendon and ligament are suboptimal, which have led to the development of alternative therapies, such as the delivery of growth factors, development of engineered scaffolds or the application of stem cells, which have been approached in this review. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Current treatments for tendon injuries often fail to fully restore joint biomechanics leading to the recurrence of symptoms, and thus resulting in a significant health problem with a relevant social impact worldwide. Cell-based approaches involving the use of stem cells might enable tailoring a successful tendon regeneration outcome. As growth factors (GFs) powerfully regulate the cell biological response, their exogenous addition can further stimulate stem cells into the tenogenic lineage, which might eventually depend on stem cells source. In the present study we investigate the tenogenic differentiation potential of human- amniotic fluid stem cells (hAFSCs) and adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) with several GFs associated to tendon development and healing; namely, EGF, bFGF, PDGF-BB and TGF-β1. Stem cells response to biochemical stimuli was studied by screening of tendon-related genes (collagen type I, III, decorin, tenascin C and scleraxis) and proteins found in tendon extracellular matrix (ECM) (Collagen I, III, and Tenascin C). Despite the fact that GFs did not seem to influence the synthesis of tendon ECM proteins, EGF and bFGF influenced the expression of tendon-related genes in hAFSCs, while EGF and PDGF-BB stimulated the genetic expression in hASCs. Overall results on cellular alignment morphology, immunolocalization and PCR analysis indicated that both stem cell source can be biochemically induced towards tenogenic commitment, validating the potential of hASCs and hAFSCs for tendon regeneration strategies.