This technology is a method for treating skeletal disorders, such as osteoarthritis and bone fractures, with osteochondroreticular stem cells that have enhanced cartilage production.
Current treatment approaches for osteoarthritis involve arthroscopic inspection and clearing of joint debris. This process is eventually followed by an invasive total joint replacement that carries the risk of rejection and infection. While mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy has emerged as a potential treatment for osteoarthritis, pooled MSCs are not always effective at regenerating bone and cartilage specifically, highlighting a need for improved therapies for osteoarthritis.
This technology describes the use of osteochondroreticular stem cells in the treatment of skeletal disorders, such as osteoarthritis and bone fractures. These osteochondroreticular stem cells are highly effective at producing cartilage and can be identified in the bone marrow by expression of the gene Gremlin 1, as well as the expression of the surface markers CD200, CD109, and CD105. By expanding this selected skeletal stem cell population that is enriched for chondrogenic properties for subsequent injection into joints of patients suffering from osteoarthritis or bone fractures, this technology provides an improved and effective approach to treating skeletal disorders.
This technology has been validated in vivo, demonstrating that cells produced with this method have stronger chondrogenic potential than traditional MSCs and can be easily transplanted into fractures in mice.
IR CU15034
Licensing Contact: Jerry Kokoshka