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New cartilage for damaged joints

What problem was studied?
Thanks to innovative tissue engineering research, people with severe joint damage may soon have an alternative to joint replacement surgery-growing their own new cartilage! Transplanting cartilage from one part of the body to another is already being done to repair injured cartilage. More widespread use of this procedure in people with severe arthritis depends upon a better understanding of cartilage biology. This study was designed to provide insights about how certain proteins called integrins help the cells that make up cartilage (chondrocytes) attach better to the damaged area and stimulate cartilage repair.

Arthritis Foundation-funded researchers involved in the study: This research was performed in the laboratory of Robert L. Sah, MD, ScD, University of California, San Diego, supported by an Arthritis Foundation clinical grant with assistance from Richard F. Loeser, MD, Rush Medical Center, Chicago, supported by an Arthritis Foundation biomedical grant

What was done in the study? 
The researchers used human chondrocyte cells and sections of cartilage tissue taken from human joints to simulate in the laboratory what happens in a cartilage transplant. They used antibodies to block the integrin proteins to see whether this would affect the integration of new chondrocytes into cartilage.

What were the study results? 
The study showed that integrin proteins play a key role in helping chondrocytes attach to cartilage.

What's the relevance to people with arthritis?
Attachment of cells to the cartilage surface is an important early step in successful cartilage repair. The insights from this study about the importance of certain proteins for the attachment process could lead to improved cartilage transplant methods.

Source: Arthritis & Rheumatism, January 2003 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12528111&dopt=Abstract

Research Update is compiled by Michele Boutaugh, BSN, MPH, Medical and Scientific Affairs Department, National Office.