Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

REVIEW article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

Sec. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

This article is part of the Research TopicApplication of Tissue Engineering in Bone, Joints, Ligaments Injuries and Cartilage RegenerationView all 15 articles

Applications of Bone Regenerative Medicine in the Foot and Ankle: Mechanisms, Technologies, and Therapeutic Advances

Provisionally accepted
Yang LianboYang Lianbo1Yijie LiYijie Li2Tianqi WangTianqi Wang3Zhuo ZhaoZhuo Zhao1旺 李旺 李4Jinghang LvJinghang Lv1Haoran ChenHaoran Chen1Zhaodong QiZhaodong Qi2Xinming WangXinming Wang1Wenchi BaoWenchi Bao1Haidong LiangHaidong Liang1*
  • 1Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
  • 2Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
  • 3People's Hospital of Liaoning Province, Shenyang, China
  • 4Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University Department of Radiology, Shenyang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Select one of your emails

You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:

Notify me on publication

Please enter your email address:

If you already have an account, please login

You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here

Background: Foot and ankle diseases significantly impact quality of life, with regenerative medicine emerging as a promising approach. A comprehensive evaluation of both efficacy and safety is paramount for its clinical translation. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed using keywords "regenerative medicine" and "foot and ankle" (as of December 31, 2024). Studies were categorized by technology and disease. Results:PRP and HA showed short-term efficacy in talar cartilage repair; stem cells enhanced functional recovery in ankle osteoarthritis. 3D printing enabled personalized implants. Exosomes and AI were identified as future directions. However, the reporting of safety data was often sporadic and non-standardized, highlighting the need for more systematic monitoring in future studies. Conclusion: Regenerative therapies demonstrate potential but require further validation through robust trials that prioritize standardized safety reporting alongside efficacy outcomes. Gaps in exosome isolation, long-term safety, and clinical translation need addressing.

Keywords: Regenerative Medicine, Foot and ankle diseases, Platelet-Rich Plasma, Stem Cells, 3D bioprinting

Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 14 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Lianbo, Li, Wang, Zhao, 李, Lv, Chen, Qi, Wang, Bao and Liang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Haidong Liang, johnlhd@163.com

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material