Editorial: Advancing bone and soft tissue repair: bioengineering from cellular insights to clinical applications
Year: 2026
Type: editorial
Abstract: In recent years, significant progress has been made in the field of tissue regeneration, particularly in the repair of bone and soft tissue injuries, showing vast potential for clinical application. As our understanding of the tissue repair microenvironment and regeneration processes deepens, new bioengineering materials are playing an increasingly vital role in modulating inflammatory responses, promoting angiogenesis, and guiding tissue remodeling (He et al., 2025).This special issue focuses on bone and soft tissue injuries, a common and complex clinical challenge, and systematically compiles and reviews representative research in the field of bioactive materials for bone and soft tissue regeneration. The studies included cover a range of functional materials and their application strategies across different diseases and stages of regeneration. These works address key clinical challenges in bone and soft tissue regeneration, such as infection control, chronic inflammation, and vascularization barriers, from the perspectives of cellular behavior regulation and bioactive material design. They provide important theoretical foundations and practical insights for the treatment of bone and soft tissue diseases and their clinical translation. This special issue focuses on cutting-edge bioactive materials in bone and soft tissue regeneration, systematically summarizing recent representative studies. The core theme is exploring functional bioengineering materials that dynamically respond to changes in the tissue repair microenvironment, targeting precise stages of tissue regeneration. The articles highlight their potential applications in various diseases, emphasizing their synergistic effects in key regeneration stages, including hemostasis, antibacterial defense, anti-inflammation, angiogenesis, and tissue remodeling (He et al., 2025, Gong et al., 2025). This issue emphasizes temporal regulation and multifunctional integration, reflecting the shift from "passive repair" to "active regulation" in regenerative medicine.In soft tissue repair, several reviews summarize advances in functional hydrogels, photothermal bioengineering materials, retinoid-based strategies, and exosome-like nanovesicles derived from traditional Chinese medicine. These articles address key issues in chronic wounds and diabetic foot ulcers, such as persistent inflammation, angiogenesis limitation, and cell migration barriers. They show how bioactive materials contribute to infection control, immune modulation, fibroblast and keratinocyte recovery, and even scarless healing, marking the shift from structural repair to functional restoration(Functionalized peptide hydrogels: enabling dynamic stage-adaptive modulation for wound healing),(Retinoids in scarless skin regeneration: from molecular mechanisms to therapeutic strategies),(Traditional Chinese medicine derived exosome-like nanovesicles in wound repair and skin regeneration).In skeletal system repair, the issue focuses on complex diseases like arthritis and
Authors: Ya-xing Li, Long-mei Zhao, Hui Zhang
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7127984117