Tissue engineering practices and its ethical concerns: an Islamic framework

Abstract

The lost, damaged and end-stage organ or tissue failure is one of the most frequent, devastating, and costly problems in modern-day healthcare. Tissue engineering provides an alternative to existing treatments by developing biological substitutes to restore, maintain or improve organ and tissue functions. However, translating the science into clinical setting involving the public poses many challenges, particularly in the social dimension. One of the many issues that needed immediate attention is the ethical concerns related to tissue engineering. This study aims to examine the Islamic perspective on selected ethical issues in tissue engineering research and practices. Various approaches were used to achieve this aim. Firstly, a scoping review was conducted to explain tissue engineering conceptualisation in clarifying any conceptual ambiguity coming from the multiple definitions used in literature to describe what can be understood today as tissue engineering. Secondly, ethical issues in tissue engineering were examined, classified and discussed by conducting a systematic review of the literature published in selected online databases from the year 2015 to 2020. The Islamic response towards these issues was then deliberated to achieve the conclusions. The works of various scholars were explored and utilised to form prospective engagements towards these ethical issues. These works include published literature, personal communication and inputs obtained from various seminars and conferences related to this study. The study was concluded with a proposed Islamic research framework to be incorporated into tissue engineering research and practices. The framework is portrayed in the form of three concentric circles which are interconnected to each other. The inner circle represents a core, permanent metaphysical component. The middle circle represents a network of auxiliary hypotheses that inform the empirical investigation in the field. Lastly, the outer circle represents nature or the physical world.