Conventional treatments of peripheral vascular disease and coronary artery disease have partial success but are still limited. Methods to deliver angiogenic factors into ischemic areas using gene, protein and cell therapies are faced with difficult issues such a delivery, effective concentration and duration of action. Tissue engineering offers the possibility of creating a functional self-contained three-dimensional (3D) unit that works as a coordinated biological pump that can secrete a whole range of angiogenic factors. We report a tissue engineering approach using decellularized micro-fragments and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to create a vascular inducing device (VID). Proteomic analysis of the decellularized micro-fragments and of the VIDs reveals a large number of extracellular-matrix (ECM) proteins. Moreover, the VIDs were found to transcribe and secrete a whole repertoire of angiogenic factors in a sustained manner. Furthermore, preliminary results of implantation VIDs into non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/SCID) mice indicate formation of vascular network at the site within a week. We propose that those VIDs could serve as a safe, localized, simple and powerful method for the treatment of certain types of vascular diseases.

外周血管疾病和冠状动脉疾病的常规治疗取得了部分成功，但仍然有限。使用基因、蛋白质和细胞疗法将血管生成因子递送到缺血区域的方法面临着诸如递送、有效浓度和作用持续时间等难题。组织工程提供了创建功能独立的三维 (3D) 单元的可能性，该单元作为协调的生物泵工作，可以分泌各种血管生成因子。我们报告了一种使用脱细胞微片段和间充质干细胞 (MSC) 来创建血管诱导装置 (VID) 的组织工程方法。脱细胞微片段和 VID 的蛋白质组学分析揭示了大量的细胞外基质 (ECM) 蛋白质。而且，发现 VID 以持续的方式转录和分泌完整的血管生成因子。此外，将 VID 植入非肥胖糖尿病/严重联合免疫缺陷 (NOD/SCID) 小鼠的初步结果表明，一周内在该部位形成了血管网络。我们建议这些 VID 可以作为一种安全、局部、简单和有效的方法来治疗某些类型的血管疾病。