Due to its scientific relevance an article about stem cell produced cartilage by the International Stemcell Corporation (ISCO) has been featured on the cover of the May 2018 issue of the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, a prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Making Cell-Based Cartilage Production Scalable
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The article is titled “Supplementation of Specific Carbohydrates Results in Enhanced Deposition of Chondrogenic-Specific Matrix during Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation.”
The article discusses ISCO’s system developed that produces functional human cartilage tissue derived from the patient’s own skin or fat tissue which is scalable. The company claims that this process has the capacity to provide greater stability than other tissue that is currently available for the treatment of osteoarthritis.
ISCO scientists claim to have generated a healthy cartilage‐specific matrix from human mesenchymal stem cells that had significantly higher viability and cartilage specific properties, including: proteoglycan, aggrecan, hyaluronic acid, and collagen II deposition and glycosaminoglycan production. This new cartilage-specific matrix was built in 3D format and is said to be ready for further therapeutic development.
“While the treatment of Parkinson’s disease has always been at the forefront of our research efforts, we are also pursuing various other therapeutic indications. In one of those other areas, our R&D Team has significantly improved the process by which we can use the patient’s own mesenchymal stem cells to potentially treat osteoarthritis,” said Russell Kern, Ph.D., ISCO’s executive vice president and chief scientific officer. “We are also thrilled to announce that this research gives us a basis to launch a program to develop supplements designed to potentially reduce joint pain and improve overall mobility,” he added.
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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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