Pioneering Leeds-based stem cell research could lead to better treatment for knee injuries
Bioengineers in Leeds are a step closer to developing an exciting new technique to treat knee injuries - postponing the need for knee replacement.
The technique, called "in situ tissue engineering" uses a patient's own stem cells derived from their bone marrow to regenerate new cartilage in damaged joints.
The team led by Dr Bahaa Seedhom, Arthritis Research Campaign Reader in Bioengineering at the University of Leeds' School of Medicine, has been working on developing the technique for the past four years. Now Dr Seedhom has been awarded funding for the next two and a half years of more than £131,000 from the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) to carry out a series of lab tests to test the strength of the new cartilage, before embarking on a clinical trial on human patients in the near future.
"Our technique harnesses the regenerative power of the body to repair itself – with a bit of help from science," explained Dr Seedhom. "This is a very exciting development which could have huge implications for osteoarthritis patients in the future."
In situ tissue engineering involves using a current surgical technique called subchondral drilling, in which small holes are drilled into the bone beneath the cartilage of the affected joint. This causes bleeding from the bone marrow, which in turn stimulates stem cells to grow tissue within the area of cartilage damage. A small felt-like pad is then surgically implanted using a novel technique into the area of damaged cartilage, to encourage the cells to expand, and to give them more room to grow into tissue. This novel technique attaches the implant firmly in place from the outset, so as not to require immobilisation of the patient after surgery.
The Leeds technique is different to currently being performed experimentally in a small number of centres in the UK on patients with damaged cartilage, called autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), but which requires two operations and a lengthy period of rehabilitation as the new cartilage takes hold. ACI procedure is expensive, in that it requires growing patients' own cells in the lab before injecting them back into the patients' joint in the second operation.
The benefits of Dr Seedhom's technique are that patients would require only one operation, and would recover more quickly. Although the technique would initially only be suitable for people with small areas of damaged cartilage, it could eventually be used to postpone a total knee replacement in younger people with osteoarthritis until later life.
