Cardiff scientists awarded major grant from arthritis charity
SCIENTISTS in Cardiff have been awarded a major grant of £71,783 by leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign, for their work aimed at improving new cartilage grown in their laboratories.
New methods of growing cartilage in culture, taken from patients' joints, then implanting it back into the damaged area of tissue, are currently being developed in Cardiff – one of the leading centres for connective tissue research in the UK.
More and more people – including younger people who have suffered sports injuries – are set to benefit from this approach of regenerating cartilage, as an alternative to joint replacement.
The ARC grant will enable the team at the Connective Tissue Biology Laboratories, led by Professor Charlie Archer, to improve the quality of cartilage grown in the labs. The charity already funds the team to the tune of £1m.
"Degenerative joint disease and in particular erosion and degeneration of articular cartilage continue to be a major contributor to the amount of disease in a growing elderly population," explained Dr Archer. "Additionally, damage to cartilage in young patients as a result of trauma is an increasingly prevalent problem, particularly in relation to sporting injuries.
"Current strategies of repair include the use of stem cells from bone marrow in order to generate new cartilage. This cartilage, however, differs from articular cartilage in a number of ways, and is mechanically and functionally inferior. Our research project hopes to isolate a specific cartilage cell that may then have the potential to regenerate proper articular cartilage."
Implanted cartilage tends not to integrate very well with the existing cartilage in a patient's joint, and, up until now, the repair remains weak. The team's new research could greatly improve the quality of the repair, improving the quality of life for patients.
