Regenerative medicine for oesophageal reconstruction after cancer treatment

Removal of malignant tissue in patients with oesophageal cancer and replacement with autologous grafts from the stomach and colon can lead to problems. The need to reduce stenosis and anastomotic leakage after oesophagectomy is a high priority. Developments in tissue-engineering methods and cell-sheet technology have improved scaffold materials for oesophageal repair. Despite the many successful animal studies, few tissue-engineering approaches have progressed to clinical trials. In this Review, we discuss the status of oesophagus reconstruction after surgery. In particular, we highlight two clinical trials that used decellularised constructs and epithelial cell sheets to replace excised tissues after endoscopic submucosal dissection or mucosal resection procedures. Results from the trials showed that both decellularised grafts and epithelial-cell sheets prevented stenosis. By contrast, animal studies have shown that the use of tissue-engineered constructs after oesophagectomy remains a challenge.