With the help of a 3-D printer, scientists in Melbourne, Australia, report that they have grown human cartilage from stem cells. Led by Associate Professor Damian Myers of St. Vincent’s Hospital, scientists developed the 3D scaffolds which were used to grow the cartilage cells. Myers claimed that this was the first time true cartilage had been grown, according to Lisa Wachsmuth of the Illawarra Mercury.
3-D Printer Plus Stem Cells Equals Cartilage
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“We basically take fat cells from behind the knee cap, and then we isolate the stem cells from the fat tissue, ” Myers said. “We are differentiating, or actually forcing the stem cells to become cartilage cells within the 3D scaffolds and we form cartilage tissue by doing that.”
Myers said that they were performing the experiment in the laboratory with the anticipated next step being to start testing in a pre-clinical model. “Hopefully over the next three to five years we can advance that for use in humans, for cartilage repair, ” he said. He believes that this process would benefit those with traumatic injuries from accidents, sporting injuries or certain conditions or diseases like osteoarthritis.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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