The current status of tissue engineering as potential therapy.

End-stage organ disease and tissue loss continue to be major medical problems. Although transplantation has become an established and successful method of therapy, the severe scarcity of donor organs, especially in the pediatric population, has become a major limitation and has stimulated investigation into selective cell transplantation. The authors have been investigating the fabrication of functional living tissue, or tissue engineering, using cells seeded on highly porous synthetic biodegradable polymer scaffolds as a novel approach toward the development of biological substitutes that may replace lost tissue function. Over the past decade, we have applied the principles of tissue engineering in the fabrication of a wide variety of tissues, including both structural and visceral organs. This article reviews the progress that has been achieved and the current status of tissue engineering as potential therapy for end-stage organ disease and tissue loss.