Marylynn Huggins

BIOL-1090 Sawitzke
November 24, 2016
News Analysis #2

Stem Cells Engineered to Grow Cartilage, Fight Inflammation

by Jim Dryden
The article I chose ties in directly to a situation going on in my body. Ive sustained an injury to
the cartilage in my right hip. Arthritis has set in and the joint is slowly deteriorating. Due to my
age, the only option I have now is to wait for the joint to deteriorate sufficiently so a hip
replacement becomes necessary. Every few months I can go in for a cortisone injection, but its
only a temporary relief. This has limited my activity level and is the source of chronic pain. My
future was looking a bit bleak, but then I ran across this news article and I have something new
to talk with my doctor about.
Research has been going on at Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cytex
Therapeutics Inc. in Durham, N.C. The goal of the
research has been to find a way of treating worn,
arthritic hips without extensive surgery to replace
them. (Dryden). What they have come up with is
amazing to me. Using a patients own stem cells, they
can grow new cartilage in the shape of the ball of the
hip joint.
The scientists working on this project are, Farshid Guilak, PhD, a professor of orthopedic
surgery, also professor of developmental biology and of biomedical engineering at Washington
University, and Franklin Moutos, PhD, vice president of technology development at Cytex.
Guilak is also the director of research at Shriners Hospitals for Children St. Louis, and codirector of the Washington University Center of Regenerative Medicine. While Guilak is deeply
involved with nonpartisan organizations he is assisted by the collaboration of Moutos who is part
of a for-profit corporation. While the interests of a corporation lean toward making a profit from
positive research results, I dont believe the conclusions of this project have been altered.
The technique involves creating a 3-D, biodegradable synthetic scaffold molded to the precise
shape of the patients joint and then covered with cartilage made from the patients own stem
cells taken from fat beneath the skin. The scaffold can then be implanted onto the surface of
an arthritic hip which can ease the arthritis pain and delay or even eliminate the need for jointreplacement surgery in some patients. (Dryden). Their research also includes using gene

therapy to activate the new cartilage so it will release anti-inflammatory molecules to fend off
the return of arthritis.
There are about 30 million Americans diagnosed with osteoarthritis, Im just one of many and
the numbers are increasing. Research is finding that more and more younger patients ages 40
to 65 basically Baby Boomers and Gen X, are leading the growth. With limited options, we
are left to suffer in pain while waiting to become candidates for total joint replacement surgery,
which is painful and has an extensive recovery period. I have friends who have recently
undergone hip replacement surgery and even after six months to a year they are still struggling to
regain mobility.
The scientists are highly optimistic about the future of their research. As noted in this article by
the vice president of research and development at Cytex, Bradley Estes, PhD, We envision in
the future that this population of younger patients may be ideal candidates for this type of
biological joint replacement. (Dryden). The team of scientists have been working on and
testing a variety of tissue engineering with stem cells. They already have customized implants
being tested in laboratory animals. According to Guilak, if all goes well, such devices could be
ready for safety testing in humans in three to five years. (Dryden).
This article didnt go into the opinions of anyone outside of the specific content or point of view
of Washington University. There are several recommended articles at the end of this article
referencing more research being done on this subject dating back as early as 2002. As I read the
various articles, one name was common among the many scientists working on this type of
project, Farshid Guilak. There are journal references cited for the articles which all back up the
research being done by Guilak and Moutos.
As a matter of doing my own research, I came upon another article listed in Google which asks
the question, Should we use cells, biomaterials, or tissue engineering for cartilage
regeneration? (Bernhard and Vunjak-Novakovic). From the varied and extensive list of
references in the article by Bernhard and Vunjak-Novakovic, it would appear a large segment of
the scientific community has an interest in developing and implementing similar techniques as
written about in this article.
I really enjoyed this article and found it fascinating. The reporter, Jim Dryden, did a good job of
delivering the information and prefaced his writing with the following journal reference:
Franklin T. Moutos, Katherine A. Glass, Sarah A. Compton, Alison K. Ross, Charles A.
Gersbach, Farshid Guilak, Bradley T. Estes. Anatomically shaped tissue-engineered cartilage
with tunable and inducible anticytokine delivery for biological joint
resurfacing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016; 201601639
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601639113
I am hopeful that with more research and testing this new technique will become a viable option,
in the not so distant future, for all who suffer with the immobilizing effects of arthritis and the
need for joint replacements.

Works Cited
Bernhard, Jonathan C and Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic. "Should we use cells, biomaterials, or tissue
engineering for cartilage regeneration?" 18 April 2016. BioMed Central. 24 November 2016.
<https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13287-016-0314-3>.
Dryden, Jim and Washington University School of Medicine. "Stem cells engineered to grow cartilage,
fight inflammation: Technique uses 3-D weaving to grow a living hip replacement." 18 July 2016.
ScienceDaily. 23 11 2016.
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160718160925.htm>.