Cartilage-Penetrating Nanocarrier-Drug Conjugate for Disease-Modifying Intervention in Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis
Abstract
Osteoarthritis following traumatic joint injury is a condition that can debilitate the lives of soldiers and veterans, making it difficult for them to function effectively while serving, and impacting their work and personal lives significantly on return from active duty. There is a need for regenerative therapy that can be administered quickly and early, within hours of an injury. Such therapy would ideally have disease-modifying properties that can arrest further damage of the cartilage and reverse degradation, preventing the onset of OA following trauma. The technology developed by our lab will provide a means of mediating gradual regeneration of healthy cartilage tissue and collagen matrix in the joint. The approach developed is cell-free and offers a unique early stage intervention to rescue damaged cartilage, without the risk of donor site morbidity or transmission of infection. We devised a nanoparticle that can penetrate the cartilage, act over multi-week timescales, and target the cells in the joint directly, stimulating regeneration and growth of chondrocytes and establishing a more rapid generation of new cartilage at the injury site, addressing OA before it has begun to become problematic. Another avenue of intervention is using anti-catabolic proteins, halting joint inflammation and degradation before it has begun. This capability would lead, in the worst case, to less severe OA symptoms appearing at a later point in life, and in the best case to the full long term remediation of joint damage and complete recovery, or lack of degradation, of the cartilage. By bringing the joint back to recovery, it is anticipated that OA can be fully eliminated when patients are treated early enough, thus greatly improving the quality of life for the 26% of soldiers who incur OA during service, and their families, and increasing the productivity of the affected military personnel.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1165683
Entities
People
- Paula T. Hammond
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology