Stem cells may help prevent post-injury arthritis

Researchers may have found a promising stem cell therapy for preventing osteoarthritis after a joint injury.

Injuring a joint greatly raises the odds of getting a form of osteoarthritis called post-traumatic arthritis, or PTA. There are no therapies yet that modify or slow the progression of arthritis after injury.

Researchers at Duke University Health System have found a very promising therapeutic approach to PTA using a type of stem cell, called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), in mice with fractures that typically would lead to them developing arthritis.

Their findings could lead to a therapy that would be used after joint injury and before signs of significant osteoarthritis.

The scientists thought the stem cells would work to prevent PTA by altering the balance of inflammation and regeneration in knee joints, because these stem cells have beneficial properties in other regions of the body.

"The stem cells were able to prevent post-traumatic arthritis," said Farshid Guilak, Ph.D., director of orthopaedic research at Duke and senior author of the study.

The researchers also thought that a type of mice bred for their super-healing properties would probably fare better than typical mice, but they were wrong.

"We decided to investigate two therapies for the study, said lead author Brian Diekman, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Guilak lab.

"We thought that stem cells from so-called superhealer mice would be superior at providing protection, and instead, we found that they were no better than stem cells from typical mice. We thought that maybe it would take stem cells from superhealers to gain an effect as strong as preventing arthritis after a fracture, but we were surprised and excited to learn that regular stem cells work just as well," he said.

Certain people appear to fall into the superhealer category, too. They bounce back quickly and heal well naturally after a fracture, while other people eventually form cases of arthritis at the fractured joint, said Guilak, who is a professor of orthopaedic surgery and biomedical engineering.

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Stem cells may help prevent post-injury arthritis