Induced pluripotent stem cells for vascular tissue engineering

Abstract Vascular in vitro tissue engineering has seen a constant evolution from first in vitro engineered constructs to fully functional, growing replacements in large animal in vivo models. The rise of the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology had a major impact on the entire field providing a promising cell source for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. In particular, the differentiation capacities into all cellular types of the human body combined with unlimited scale-up potential made iPSC a highly attractive cell source. This chapter will focus on recent advances in the field of vascular tissue engineering and elaborate potential cell sources and scaffold materials with a particular focus on the use of iPSC. Additionally, iPSC reprogramming strategies and differentiation methods to obtain mature cells with vascular phenotypes will be discussed.