Tissue scaffolds that stimulate bone and cartilage growth when implanted in joints may soon offer effective treatment options for sports injuries and arthritis, thanks to research conducted by engineers at MIT and Cambridge University.
The scaffolds stimulate mesenchymal stem cells in the bone marrow, which gradually produces new bone and cartilage. They could be a more effective, less expensive and less painful way to treat cartilage injuries, says Lorna Gibson, co-leader of the research team at Cambridge University. "If someone had a damaged region in the cartilage, you could remove the cartilage and the bone below it and put our scaffold in the hole," she explains.
Traditionally, cartilage injury treatment involves drilling small holes through existing cartilage into the joint’s bone to stimulate the release of stem cells; transplanting cartilage and bone from other areas of the joint; or removing cartilage from the body, stimulating its growth in the lab and re-implanting it in the damaged joint.
The scaffolds, which are currently limited to defects roughly 8mm in diameter, have proven effective in goats’ knees during a 16-week study. They’ve been licensed to Orthomimetics, a British company that will soon start clinical trials in Europe, says MIT.
—Daniel Cook
