European Times Share | 3D printing of human organs is a matter of time!
Lung cancer ranks first among the top ten cancers in China. But if one day, lung cancer can be treated by transplanting artificially printed lung lobes, eliminating painful treatments such as electrotherapy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, what impact will it have on China's medical industry?
3D bioprinting organs using patient cells
On the road: the development and obstacles of 3D bioprinting
Organ transplantation has always been a major problem in modern medicine. It is often difficult for patients to find a suitable organ donor, and the time may not be suitable. Even if the operation is successful, there may be rejection problems. In 2000, Thomas Boland, the father of bioprinting, replaced the bio-ink composed of collagen, E. coli, and biological cells for ordinary printers and started an unprecedented scientific experiment. Since then, 3D bioprinting has become the most cutting-edge project in the field of scientific research.
Nowadays, with the help of 3D bioprinting technology, organ tissues, skin, and corneas can be produced for biological organs that can self-repair. Since 3D bioprinting uses healthy cells from patients as raw materials, in theory, biological rejection will be very low. However, organ transplantation still faces two major technical challenges:
1. The printing speed is too slow. It may take weeks to print a complex organ, and the cells will die before the printing is completed;
2. The current resolution of 3D bioprinting is only 50-100 microns, and laser 3D printing can reach 10 microns. However, the diameter of the capillaries in biological organs is only 5-10 microns. If it is not possible to print capillaries to supply oxygen to the organs, the basic survival time of the printed tissue in vitro is only about 30 minutes.
Latest laser holographic printing technology increases 3D bioprinting speed by 1,000 times
Recently, Prellis Biologics, a foreign biological company, announced a breakthrough: with the help of an improved laser holographic technology, the speed of 3D bioprinting can be increased by 1,000 times, and the resolution can be increased to 0.5 microns, which is enough to print capillaries. Their goal is to complete the entire kidney vascular system through 3D printing within 12 hours.
Prellis hopes to spend $15 million to conduct animal experiments on 3D organ transplantation in two and a half years. One day in the future, it will not be a foolish dream for patients to use their own cells to print organs for transplantation.
Ethical challenges of 3D bioprinting
If 3D bioprinting can be successful, it can effectively combat the black market organ trade. However, nowadays, advanced 3D bioprinting equipment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is probably only available to a few people.
According to the World Health Organization, the leading killer in low-income countries is lower respiratory tract infection, which does not involve organ transplantation. Moreover, taking lung cancer as an example, strengthening anti-smoking propaganda can effectively reduce the incidence of lung cancer, but if 3D printed lung lobes become a reality, will it undermine the efforts of the global anti-smoking movement and become an excuse for smokers to indulge themselves?
Huangdi Neijing says: The best doctor treats the disease before it occurs, the middle doctor treats the disease before it occurs, and the inferior doctor treats the disease after it occurs. Whether 3D printing organ transplantation is cutting-edge biotechnology or "inferior medicine" is probably not something that science can answer.
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