2006 - UZ Leuven

inhibitors that neutralize the impairing effects of proteinases presentabundantly in chronic defects. Tissue engineering skin equivalentsheralds promising clinical appliances in restoration of skin continuityafter burns, tumor removal and in congenital skin disease. Tissueengineering produces the elementary building blocks required torestore large defects while gene therapy delivers supplementaryintelligence to the wound healing niche by production of coordinatingand directing regeneration factors. Hence, cell proliferation, geneoverexpression and protein production in vivo should be tightlyregulated to fine-tune or finalize protein expression and proteinexpression once the wound healed or the tissue regenerated in orderto avoid cancerogenesis. With tissue engineering and gene therapy ofelementary proteins we target the cultivation of a smart autologousskin equivalent, available on-the-shelf for immediate use in extensivedeep full thickness skin defects such as in third degree burns,congenital skin deformities such as epidermolysis bullosa or after theremoval of large skin tumors. In order to be in skin “equivalent”, ourengineering strategies should be biocompatible, mimicking theauthentic repair and healing processes as accurately as possible.93