Tissue regeneration
Fracture numbers are expected to double by 2020, putting tremendous strain on healthcare systems worldwide. Osteoporosis-fragility fractures alone represent a cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS, and for individuals it can have a detrimental impact on quality of life.
Current approaches have significant limitations; autologous grafts cannot meet demand and cause patient morbidity, allogeneic bone lacks bioactive factors, and growth factor-based approaches (e.g. BMP-2) may have serious side effects and high costs. Consequently, there is a considerable need to devise new methods for the generation of large volumes of bone without associated patient morbidity.
Scientists at the Healthcare Technologies Institute have found a way of mimicking our body’s natural healing process, using cell-derived nano-sized particles called vesicles, to repair damaged tissue.
The paper, published in Scientific Reports, describes a new approach to bone regeneration; stimulating cells to produce vesicles which can then be delivered to facilitate tissue regeneration.
The research team, led by the University Â鶹¾«Ñ¡, and in collaboration with University of Loughborough and University College Dublin, believe that the findings mark the first step in a new direction for tissue regeneration with the potential to help repair bone, teeth and cartilage.
In recent years, attention has been focused on cell-based approaches. However, translation is frequently prevented by insurmountable regulatory, ethical and economic issues. This novel solution delivers all the advantages of cell-based therapies but without using viable cells, by harnessing the regenerative capacity of nano-sized particles called extracellular vesicles that are naturally generated during bone formation.
The team have shown in-vitro that if extracellular vesicles are applied in combination with a simple phosphate, the therapy outperforms the current gold standard, BMP-2.