Researchers develop new way of treating osteoarthritis

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Researchers develop new way of treating osteoarthritis

One method for repair or regeneration of damaged cartilage tissue is to deliver therapeutic growth factors

Thursday February 21, 2019 1:09 PM, ummid.com News Network

Washington: Nanoclay-based platform for sustained and prolonged delivery of protein therapeutics has the potential to impact treating osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease that affects nearly 27 million Americans and is caused by breakdown of cartilage that can lead to damage of the underlying bone, according to a study.

"One of the greatest challenges with treating osteoarthritis and subsequent joint damage is repairing the damaged tissue, especially as cartilage tissue is difficult to regenerate", Dr. Akhilesh K. Gaharwar of Texas A&M University, who led the study, said.

One method for repair or regeneration of damaged cartilage tissue is to deliver therapeutic growth factors. Growth factors are a special class of proteins that can aid in tissue repair and regeneration.

However, current versions of growth factors break down quickly and require a high dose to achieve a therapeutic potential. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated significant adverse effects to this kind of treatment, including uncontrolled tissue formation and inflammation.

The study, published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, sees Gaharwar's lab designing two-dimensional (2D) mineral nanoparticles to deliver growth factors for a prolonged duration to overcome this drawback. These nanoparticles provide a high surface area and dual charged characteristics that allow for easy electrostatic attachment of growth factors.

“These nanoparticles could prolong delivery of growth factors to human mesenchymal stem cells, which are commonly utilised in cartilage regeneration", Gaharwar said.

"The sustained delivery of growth factors resulted in enhanced stem cell differentiation towards cartilage lineage and can be used for treatment of osteoarthritis", he added.

Senior author of the study Dr Lauren M. Cross said, “By utilising the nanoparticle for therapeutic delivery it is possible to induce robust and stable differentiation of stem cells.”

"In addition, prolonged delivery of the growth factor could reduce overall costs by reducing growth factor concentration as well as minimizing the negative side effects", Cross said.

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