Protein and Gene Delivery in Tissue Engineering

In regenerative medicine, growing demand for tissues and organs has led to the rapid development of tissue engineering as an alternative. To improve functional scaffold, many biomaterials serve dual purposes; in addition to providing cell support, cutting-edge scaffolds biologically interact with adhering and invading cells and effectively guide cellular growth and development by releasing bioactive proteins and genes. For achieving the ambitious goal of tissue regeneration and replacement, it is more important to understand the basic principles of protein and gene delivery as well as design of the system required by using proper biomaterials. This review covered the requirement in the materials choice, the strategies, the main techniques for producing proteins and genes releasing scaffolds.