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. 2017 Feb;3(1):16-27.
doi: 10.1016/j.eng.2017.01.003. Epub 2017 Feb 14.

Regenerative Engineering for Knee Osteoarthritis Treatment: Biomaterials and Cell-Based Technologies

Jorge L Escobar Ivirico  1   2   3 , Maumita Bhattacharjee  1   2   3 , Emmanuel Kuyinu  1   2   3 , Lakshmi S Nair  1   2   3   4   5   6 , Cato T Laurencin  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8
Affiliations

Regenerative Engineering for Knee Osteoarthritis Treatment: Biomaterials and Cell-Based Technologies

Jorge L Escobar Ivirico et al. Engineering (Beijing). 2017 Feb.

Abstract

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis worldwide. The incidence of this disease is rising and its treatment poses an economic burden. Two early targets of knee OA treatment include the predominant symptom of pain, and cartilage damage in the knee joint. Current treatments have been beneficial in treating the disease but none is as effective as total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, while TKA is an end-stage solution of the disease, it is an invasive and expensive procedure. Therefore, innovative regenerative engineering strategies should be established as these could defer or annul the need for a TKA. Several biomaterial and cell-based therapies are currently in development and have shown early promise in both preclinical and clinical studies. The use of advanced biomaterials and stem cells independently or in conjunction to treat knee OA could potentially reduce pain and regenerate focal articular cartilage damage. In this review, we discuss the pathogenesis of pain and cartilage damage in knee OA and explore novel treatment options currently being studied, along with some of their limitations.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Knee osteoarthritis; Mesenchymal stem cells; Osteoarthritic pain; Regenerative engineering.

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Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with ethics guidelines Jorge L. Escobar Ivirico, Maumita Bhattacharjee, Emmanuel Kuyinu, Lakshmi S. Nair, and Cato T. Laurencin declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Structural changes between (a) a healthy joint and (b) an OA joint. Expression of matrix proteinase plays an important role in inducing OA. (Adapted with permission from Ref. [2])
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Cell-biomaterial approaches for cartilage repair.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Chemical modifications of HA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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