Hydrogels for Advanced Stem Cell Therapies: A Biomimetic Materials Approach for Enhancing Natural Tissue Function

Stem-cell-based therapy is a promising approach for the treatment of a myriad of diseases and injuries. However, the low rate of cell survival and the uncontrolled differentiation of the injected stem cells currently remain key challenges in advancing stem cell therapeutics. Hydrogels are biomaterials that are potentially highly effective candidates for scaffold systems for stem cells and other molecular encapsulation approaches to target in vivo delivery. Hydrogel-based strategies can potentially address several current challenges in stem cell therapy. We present a concise overview of the recent advances in applications of hydrogels in stem cell therapies, with a focus particularly on the recent advances in the design and approaches for application of hydrogels in tissue engineering. The capability of hydrogels to either enhance the function of the transplanted stem cells by promoting their controlled differentiation or enhance the recruitment of endogenous adult stem cells to the injury site for repair is also reviewed. Finally, the importance of impacts and the desired relationship between the scaffold system and the encapsulated stem cells are discussed. - 2008-2011 IEEE.Manuscript received June 9, 2017; revised January 8, 2018 and March 14, 2018; accepted March 15, 2018. Date of publication April 12, 2018; date of current version February 15, 2019. This publication was made possible by the NPRP grant [NPRP 9-144-3-021] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation) and the grant GCC-2017-005 from GCC research program. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. W. Farhat would also like to acknowledge the partial funding for his work by the French Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs. A. Hasan would like to thank the Biomedical Research Center at Qatar University for its resources to Anwarul Hasan’s lab. (Corresponding authors: Anwarul Hasan; Firas Kobeissy.) W. Farhat is with the College of Natural Resources, Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA, with the Université de Lyon, Ingénierie des Matériaux Polymères (IMP), UMR CNRS 5223, Université Jean Monnet, Saint-Etienne F-42023, France, and also with the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon (e-mail: farhatw92@gmail.com).Scopu