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A research team in Colorado has developed a suite of new therapies that prompt aging or damaged joints to repair themselves within weeks, according to animal studies.
The new osteo-arthritis treatments include a single, regenerative injection to a joint and a biomaterial repair kit that recruits the body’s own cells to patch holes in damaged cartilage.
“In two years, we were able to go from a moonshot idea to developing these therapies to demonstrating that they reverse osteo-arthritis in animals,” said lead principal investigator Stephanie Bryant, professor of chemical and biological engineering at CU Boulder.
“Our goal is not just to treat pain and halt progression, but to end this disease,” said Bryant.
Bryant joined orthopedic researchers from Colorado State University and CU Anschutz, and now the team will advance to the next phase of a $30 million project, under Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (the NITRO program) led by ARPA-H.
Osteo-arthritis is the third most common disease in the U.S., impacting roughly one in six people over age 30 worldwide. It causes cartilage, the buffering tissue that keeps bones from grinding together, to decay. Over time, it can damage bone too, reshaping the joint and making movement excruciating.
With no known cure, patients are generally limited to two options: Treat the pain or replace the joint.
The Colorado team is taking two approaches—first, repurposing an existing drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration and applying it to treat osteo-arthritis.
Bryant, a materials scientist, and her colleagues developed a patented particle delivery system that can be injected into the joint and provide intermittent bursts of the drug for months.
Secondly, for those with significant lesions in cartilage or bone, the team developed a cocktail of engineered proteins that can be injected arthroscopically and cured into place, where it recruits the body’s own progenitor cells to patch the gap.
When the team used the injection to treat animals with arthritic joints and injuries, the joints returned to a healthy state within four to eight weeks.
When they patched holes in bone or cartilage, they saw “full regeneration and repair of the defect,” said Bryant.
In human cells derived from patients undergoing joint replacements, the therapies had a clear regenerative effect. With phase one successfully complete, the team is now advancing to phase two.
“It’s super exciting,” said Bryant.
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“At the moment, the options for many patients are either a massive, expensive surgery or nothing. There’s not a lot in between,” said Dr. Evalina Burger, professor and chair of the Department of Orthopedics at CU Anschutz.
She and Bryant imagine a day when those in the earlier stages of the disease could access an affordable single-dose therapy to keep their joints healthy for years. Those with injured tissue could have it fixed in a single doctor’s visit with a quick recovery.
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The team hopes to publish their animal findings in a peer reviewed journal later this year and has formed a company to move toward commercialization. If future studies go according to plan, Bryant anticipates clinical trials could be underway in as soon as 18 months.
“This could be a real game-changer for patients,” said Bryant.
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