Attempts to create bone and cartilage using adult stem cells has, so far, not been very successful. Now researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Monash University and RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology are claiming a breakthrough. Under the headline “Easy recipe to make bone and cartilage” they say the secret is to use small molecules.
Small Molecule Secret to Cartilage Growth
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The team, led by Naoki Nakayama, Ph.D., holder of the Jerold B. Katz Distinguished Professorship in Stem Cell Research at the UTHealth Medical School, worked with pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryos. To persuade these embryonic stem cells to become cells that can form cartilage (chondrocytes) and then bone, the team chose to use small molecules.
Nakayama, whose laboratory is housed in the Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine in the UTHealth Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, explained: “Current cell generation strategies generally use proteins to direct the stem cells to give rise to functional cells of interest. Such proteins act on the target cells through multiple mechanisms, not all of which necessarily help to achieve the overall goal of generating chondrocytes. In addition, proteins are unstable and expensive to make, and the cost is one of the hurdles that limits the ability of scientists to make the amounts necessary for clinical purposes.”
He said that small molecules are generally longer-lasting than proteins in culture and also inexpensive to produce on a large scale. They also allow a particular mechanism to be more precisely activated. Through the use of embryonic stem cells and small molecules the researchers claimed to be able to generate cells that performed like chondrocyte precursor cells that create cartilage. When the cartilage was put into mice they formed bone-like structures. The researchers believe that their process holds great promise in repairing defects in human cartilage and bone.
Catarina Vicente at The Company of Biologists reported in greater detail on the study which was published in the journal Development. A link to the source is http://dev.biologists.org/content/141/20/3848
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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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