Current issues regarding skin substitutes using living cells as industrial materials.

There have been many clinical cases of skin treatment using cultured epidermis, as established by H. Green in 1975. This procedure, famously, made it possible to make artificial skin using living cells. Permanent coverage for injury wounds was achieved with cultured epidermis made from autologous cells. Recently, many types of skin substitutes using living cells have been used clinically. The extent to which cellular skin substitute techniques established through basic research can be incorporated into general medical treatment is a controversial issue at present. Some techniques are at the commercializing stage as medical materials. Cultured epidermis, as described above, cultured dermis, and skin equivalent are already well established. In this article, we will describe the current issues regarding skin substitutes using living cells.