Towards clinical translation of 'second-generation' regenerative stroke therapies: hydrogels as game changers?
Trends Biotechnol 2021;
40:708-720. [PMID:
34815101 DOI:
10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.10.009]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Stroke is an unmet clinical need with a paucity of treatments, at least in part because chronic stroke pathologies are prohibitive to 'first-generation' stem cell-based therapies. Hydrogels can remodel the hostile stroke microenvironment to aid endogenous and exogenous regenerative repair processes. However, no clinical trials have yet been successfully commissioned for these 'second-generation' hydrogel-based therapies for chronic ischaemic stroke regeneration. This review recommends a path forward to improve hydrogel technology for future clinical translation for stroke. Specifically, we suggest that a better understanding of human host stroke tissue-hydrogel interactions in addition to the effects of scaling up hydrogel volume to human-sized cavities would help guide translation of these second-generation regenerative stroke therapies.
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