Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2022, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (13): 2120-2126.doi: 10.12307/2022.343

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Progress of macrophage polarization in immunology of bone tissue engineering

Zhao Yuexin, Chen Bin   

  1. Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
  • Received:2021-01-11 Revised:2021-01-12 Accepted:2021-02-23 Online:2022-05-08 Published:2021-12-20
  • Contact: Chen Bin, MD, Chief physician, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
  • About author:Zhao Yuexin, Doctoral candidate, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
  • Supported by:
    Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund Project of Guangdong Province, No. 2020A1515011397 (to CB)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Bone tissue engineering is an effective bone defect repair program. Macrophages play an extremely important role in the immune response after implantation of tissue engineering materials. Interfering with its different polarization states has become a key means to regulate the local immune microenvironment.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the important role of macrophages in the immune response after biomaterial implantation and the research progress in promoting osteogenesis by regulating the polarization of macrophages in bone tissue engineering. 
METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI were used to search the related articles published from 2016 to 2020. The retrieval article types were original research works and reviews. The search terms were “macrophage polarization, M2, scaffold, tissue engineering, foreign body response, implant, surface, bone” in English, and “macrophage polarization, M2, tissue engineering, foreign body response, implant, surface, bone” in Chinese. An inductive analysis was conducted in the selected articles on the latest research progress in this field.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The immune response plays an important role in tissue engineering and the regulation of the immune microenvironment is a key means of promoting osteogenesis in tissue engineered bone. The method of altering the physicochemical properties of the material, such as hydrophobicity, roughness and surface morphology has good stability for a long duration, achieves significant osteogenic improvements. Delivery of drugs, cytokines or bioactive ions has also worked well, but suffers from short release time and susceptibility to denaturation. Another strategy is regulation by engineered cell-macrophage crosstalk, where mesenchymal stem cells are highly immunomodulatory and can achieve immune modulation and bone repair promotion. The new study highlights the important role of exosomes to achieve controllable modulation of macrophage polarization and immune environment.

Key words: bone defect, bone tissue engineering, macrophage polarization, osteogenesis, foreign body reaction, bone immunity, biological scaffold, mesenchymal stem cell

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