Stem cell research breakthrough
Arthritis Research Campaign-funded scientists have given arthritis sufferers new hope of an effective treatment after a breakthrough in stem cell research.
Professor Anthony Hollander and his team from the University of Bristol based at Southmead Hospital have successfully grown human cartilage from a patient's own stem cells. This means people suffering from severe, advanced osteoarthritis could in the future have cartilage transplant operations.
Scientists took stem cells from the bone marrow of pensioners undergoing NHS replacement operations due to osteoarthritis. They took just over a month to grow the cells into a half-inch length of cartilage.
Stem cells are self-renewing and can be turned into any cell type in the body. And the new technique used by Prof Hollander and his team is expected to overcome the problems of cartilage being rejected after transplants because the patient's own stem cells are used to create the cartilage.
By using stem cells found in adult bone marrow, ethical concerns about the use of human embryos in such research could also be dispelled.
Tests showed the laboratory-grown cartilage is of higher quality than in previous attempts at tissue engineering, which means it should be 'springy' enough to work in joints like those in a knee.
Following the development, Professor Anthony Hollander, Arthritis Research Campaign Professor of Tissue Engineering and Rheumatology, said he believed that transplant trials on NHS patients suffering from osteoarthritis could become a reality within 10 years.
Prof Hollander's research is funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) and the Government's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
Prof Hollander described the experiment as a milestone but stressed it was not a cure for osteoarthritis.
He said: "This is clearly a milestone, but at the moment it is simply a technical breakthrough. It shows the possibility of a new treatment, and I think it's a very real possibility, but it will be some years before we get it to patients. I wouldn't actually call it a cure for osteoarthritis, that would mean the disease goes away, but this means the disease could be managed much more effectively."
And he said it could be good news for younger sufferers because the new treatment could be more effective than joint replacements.
He now hopes to grow several lumps of cartilage from the same patient, enough to make a transplant possible.
When a patient suffers from osteoarthritis, cartilage - which acts like a shock absorber wherever bone meets bone - becomes damaged and erodes, while underlying bone becomes thicker.
More than two million people in Britain have osteoarthritis severely enough to require treatment. Studies suggest this number will double within 20 years.
The Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) endows Prof Hollander's Chair of Rheumatology and Tissue Engineering and funds much of his work.
