Stem cells may pose solution for those with healing deficiencies
Transplantation of adult stem cells enriched with a bone-regenerating hormone may help mend fractures that are not healing properly, according to findings presented June 5 at the Endocrine Society’s 93rd annual meeting in Boston.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C., found that stem cells manufactured with the regenerative hormone insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) become bone cells and help cells within broken bones repair the fracture and speed up the healing process in mice, according to a press release from UNC.
Lead researcher Anna Spagnoli, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and biomedical engineering at UNC, noted the seriousness of deficiencies in fracture healing, a common problem affecting an estimated 600,000 people annually in North America.
“This problem is even more serious in children with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, and in elderly adults with osteoporosis, because their fragile bones can easily and repeatedly break, and bone graft surgical treatment is often not successful or feasible.”
Spagnoli and colleagues studied the effects of transplanting adult stem cells enriched with IGF-I in mice that lacked the ability to heal broken bones. “They took the mesenchymal stem cells (adult stem cells from bone marrow) of mice and engineered the cells to express IGF-I. Then they transplanted the treated cells into knockout mice with a fracture of the tibia, the long bone of the leg,” according to the release.
Results indicated that treated mice had more bone growth and stronger bones than untreated mice, according to Spagnoli.
“More excitingly, we found that stem cells empowered with IGF-I restored the formation of new bone in a mouse lacking the ability to repair bones. This is the first evidence that stem cell therapy can address a deficiency of fracture repair,” she said, adding that the success is a crucial step toward developing a similar treatment for humans.
“We envision a clinical use of combined mesenchymal stem cells and IGF-I similar to the approach employed in bone marrow transplant, in which stem cell therapy is combined with growth factors to restore blood cells,” Spagnoli said. “I think this treatment will be feasible to start testing in patients in a few years.”
About 7.9 million bone fractures occur annually in the U.S. alone, according to the release, costing an estimated $70 billion. Of those, 10 to 20 percent fail to heal. IGF-I is currently approved for treatment of children with a deficiency of this hormone, causing growth failure, according to the release.
Support for the research came from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a component of the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C., found that stem cells manufactured with the regenerative hormone insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) become bone cells and help cells within broken bones repair the fracture and speed up the healing process in mice, according to a press release from UNC.
Lead researcher Anna Spagnoli, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and biomedical engineering at UNC, noted the seriousness of deficiencies in fracture healing, a common problem affecting an estimated 600,000 people annually in North America.
“This problem is even more serious in children with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, and in elderly adults with osteoporosis, because their fragile bones can easily and repeatedly break, and bone graft surgical treatment is often not successful or feasible.”
Spagnoli and colleagues studied the effects of transplanting adult stem cells enriched with IGF-I in mice that lacked the ability to heal broken bones. “They took the mesenchymal stem cells (adult stem cells from bone marrow) of mice and engineered the cells to express IGF-I. Then they transplanted the treated cells into knockout mice with a fracture of the tibia, the long bone of the leg,” according to the release.
Results indicated that treated mice had more bone growth and stronger bones than untreated mice, according to Spagnoli.
“More excitingly, we found that stem cells empowered with IGF-I restored the formation of new bone in a mouse lacking the ability to repair bones. This is the first evidence that stem cell therapy can address a deficiency of fracture repair,” she said, adding that the success is a crucial step toward developing a similar treatment for humans.
“We envision a clinical use of combined mesenchymal stem cells and IGF-I similar to the approach employed in bone marrow transplant, in which stem cell therapy is combined with growth factors to restore blood cells,” Spagnoli said. “I think this treatment will be feasible to start testing in patients in a few years.”
About 7.9 million bone fractures occur annually in the U.S. alone, according to the release, costing an estimated $70 billion. Of those, 10 to 20 percent fail to heal. IGF-I is currently approved for treatment of children with a deficiency of this hormone, causing growth failure, according to the release.
Support for the research came from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a component of the National Institutes of Health.