整形外科領域の再生医療―骨・軟骨再生を中心に

Progress of Regenerative Medicine in the Orthopaedic Field

　抄録：今日の高齢者社会やスポーツ人口の増加，あるいは交通外傷や労災事故により骨関節疾患，脊髄損傷などの運動器疾患を治療する機会は増加している．WHOは2000年から2010年をBone and Joint Decade（運動器の10年）として骨・関節疾患の対策を重点的に行うことを宣言した．骨・軟骨損傷や脊髄損傷などは現在の進んだ医療技術をもってしても治療に難渋する場合が多い．近年では種々の組織工学的技術を用いて，失われた組織や臓器を再生しようとする再生医療の研究が進んでおり，臨床応用へ向けた今後の進展が期待されている．本稿では骨・軟骨を中心に整形外科領域の再生医療の進歩に関し述べる．

　Recently, regenerative medicine in which lost or dysfunctional tissues or organs can be regenerated using autologous cells with the tissue-engineering technique has been given great attention. In orthopaedic fields, the application of regenerative medicine for articular cartilage injury, large bone defect, or spinal injury which have poor healing capacity has been long awaited, because many attempts to repair those tissue restoration have failed. Recent progress in the molecular biology and cell technology enabled us to treat those tissues which have poor healing potential by the tissue-engineering technique. Tissue-engineering consist of three major parts, that is, transplanted cells, scaffold for cell proliferation, and growth factors. In this article, recent progress in the regenerative medicine in the orthopaedic field is described.