The Eve of commercialization: Decellularized vascular matrix as small-diameter blood vessel

Abstract

Over the past three decades, the field of tissue engineering has advanced rapidly and become a research hotspot in biomedicine, especially for treating the damages caused by cardiovascular diseases. Although artificial blood vessels with excellent functionality have been developed through advanced technologies, the use of tissue-engineered small-diameter vascular grafts for treating cardiovascular diseases has not been explored in depth. Decellularized vascular matrices for small-diameter vascular grafts offer unique advantages as they retain the entire extracellular matrix, have superior biocompatibility, and cause minimal immunogenic reactions. Therefore, many corporations around the world are trying to develop decellularized vascular matrices into viable vascular grafts that could be commercially used. Here, we briefly introduce four eminent companies that have undertaken this challenge and their representative products, including Cytograft Tissue Engineering Inc., Humacyte, Inc., Vascudyne, Inc. and LeMaitre Vascular, Inc.