New biomaterial may be able to deliver and keep in place reparative cells which reverse degenerative disc disease
Cell therapies may stop or reverse the pain and disability of degenerative disc disease and the loss of material between vertebrae, according to Duke University scientists.
To use cell therapies, however, scientists have to keep the cells alive, synthesise the appropriate replacement material and get it to the right place in a patient’s spine. With newly made biomaterials from Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering in the US, that goal could be closer.
In a proof-of-concept study published online in the journal Biomaterials, graduate student Aubrey Francisco and biomedical engineering professor Lori Setton describe a new biomaterial designed to deliver a booster shot of reparative cells to the nucleus pulposus (NP).
“Our primary goal was to create a material that would be liquid at the start, gel after injection in the disc space and keep the cells in the location where they’re needed,” Setton said. “Our second goal was to create a material that would provide the delivered cells with the environmental cues to promote their persistence and biosynthesis.”
Holding off
Previous lab research has shown that re-implanting NP cells, or even stem cells, can delay disc degeneration. Several companies already offer cell delivery strategies, but the methods are poor and ineffective. “They allow the cells to quickly migrate out of and away from the injection site,” Francisco said.
The Duke team’s delivery strategy keeps the cells in place and provides cues that mimic laminin, a protein in native nucleus pulposus tissue. Laminin may also enable the cells to survive longer and produce more of the appropriate extracellular matrix or structural underpinning of the discs that help stop degeneration, Setton said.
formed
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