Title:Challenges of Stem-cell-based Craniofacial Regeneration
Volume: 16
Issue: 6
Author(s): Ruoshi Xu, Chenchen Zhou, Yuning Zhang, Shiwen Zhang, Jing Xie and Quan Yuan*
Affiliation:
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041,China
Keywords:
Oral-systematic link, craniofacial defect, skeletal stem cells, craniofacial regeneration, signaling molecules, embryonic
development.
Abstract: Oral diseases, such as dental caries, pulpitis, periodontitis, and craniofacial trauma, are
common. Some individuals suffer from oral cancer or congenital craniofacial defects. The oral-systemic
disease link reveals that a dental disorder is not a minor problem. Tissue loss is an inevitable
consequence of most oral diseases, and repairing the tissue loss and restoring craniofacial function
are highly expected by patients and are terminal targets of dental treatment. The current clinical approach
for tissue loss due to dental caries, pulpitis, periodontitis, oral cancer, trauma, and developmental
diseases depends on the filling of corresponding material, allograft, or autograft bone after
lesion removal. Repair of the tissue volume is expectedly followed by promising functional restoration
using regenerative dental tissue or tissue engineering, which has currently aroused the interest
of clinicians and researchers. This review focuses on the ideas and recent findings on newly identified
skeletal stem cells (SSCs) as candidates for craniofacial regeneration, signaling regulation of
SSCs extended from embryonic development, and signal molecule delivery for the repair of the
craniofacial defect, sincerely hoping that the hypothesis of craniofacial self-healing is true in the future.
