ABSTRACT
The combination of gene therapy with tissue engineering offers the potential to direct progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation into a functional tissue replacement.1-4 The approaches to direct progenitor cell function can be classified into three basic categories: conductive, inductive, and cell transplantation.5 In the conductive and inductive approaches, progenitor cells infiltrate from the surrounding tissue, whereas the cell transplantation approach directly delivers progenitor cells into the injury or disease site. Creating an environment with the appropriate cues and stimuli to direct progenitor cells into functional tissues represents a major challenge in the field of tissue engineering. Polymer scaffolds, whether natural, synthetic, or a combination of the two, serve a central role in these approaches and provide the means to regulate the chemical and mechanical stimuli within the tissue microenvironment.
