Advances in Bone Tissue Engineering

While bone is inherently capable of regeneration, complications such as excessive bone loss impede healing, necessitating the use of bone grafts. In the United States alone, an estimated 15 million fractures occurs annually, including 1.6 million hospital admissions for traumatic fractures and 2 million osteoporotic fractures, costing over 60 billion dollars and calling for 1.6 million bone grafts each year [1]; a growing demand for bone grafts is similarly observed worldwide. In such applications, autologous bone grafts continue to be regarded as the “gold standard” for bone repair. However, this may not be practicable in cases involving large bone loss. Additionally, patients suffer from significant donor site morbidity, as well as poor outcomes in older patients [2, 3]. Allogeneic bone grafts may alternatively be used, but pose potential risks of immune rejection and pathogen transmission [4]. Additionally, the limited number of donors is unable to cope with the clinical demand. Consequently, alternative approaches to provide efficacious and reliable bone grafts are being actively pursued.