biostudies-literatureLing CNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious DiseasesNCATS NIH HHSNIAID NIH HHSNIDCD NIH HHSNIDCDNational Cancer InstituteNCI NIH HHSNational Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)National Institute of General Medical SciencesNIGMS NIH HHS314ra187https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC4669060biostudies-literatureUnknown7(314)Patients with voice impairment caused by advanced vocal fold (VF) fibrosis or tissue loss have few treatment options. A transplantable, bioengineered VF mucosa would address the individual and societal costs of voice-related communication loss. Such a tissue must be biomechanically capable of aerodynamic-to-acoustic energy transfer and high-frequency vibration and physiologically capable of maintaining a barrier against the airway lumen. We isolated primary human VF fibroblasts and epithelial cells and cocultured them under organotypic conditions. The resulting engineered mucosae showed morphologic features of native tissue, proteome-level evidence of mucosal morphogenesis and emerging extracellular matrix complexity, and rudimentary barrier function in vitro. When grafted into canine laryScience translational medicineBioengineered vocal fold mucosa for voice restoration.PMC4669060T32 DC009401TL1 TR000429T32 GM081061R01 DC004428R01 DC010777R01 AI066219P30 CA014520T32DC009401P30CA014520UL1 TR000427Choi KOGunasekaran SNishimoto KWelham NVFrey BLLi QJiang JJLing CKishimoto YBurlingham WJSmith LMToya YDevine EENorman IGTsegyal TBrown MEfalseBioengineered vocal fold mucosa for voice restoration.Patients with voice impairment caused by advanced vocal fold (VF) fibrosis or tissue loss have few treatment options. A transplantable, bioengineered VF mucosa would address the individual and societal costs of voice-related communication loss. Such a tissue must be biomechanically capable of aerodynamic-to-acoustic energy transfer and high-frequency vibration and physiologically capable of maintaining a barrier against the airway lumen. We isolated primary human VF fibroblasts and epithelial cells and cocultured them under organotypic conditions. The resulting engineered mucosae showed morphologic features of native tissue, proteome-level evidence of mucosal morphogenesis and emerging extracellular matrix complexity, and rudimentary barrier function in vitro. When grafted into canine lary2015-01-01T00:00:00Z2015 Nov2026-05-05T16:21:38.3Z2019-03-27T02:04:34ZS-EPMC46690602658290210.1126/scitranslmed.aab4014