Abstract
Stem cells hold tremendous promise for the treatment of cartilage repair in osteoarthritis. In addition to their multipotency, stem cells possess immunomodulatory effects that can alleviate inflammation and enhance cartilage repair. However, the widely clinical application of stem cell therapy to cartilage repair and osteoarthritis has proven difficult due to challenges in large-scale production, viability maintenance in pathological tissue site and limited therapeutic biological activity. This review aims to provide a perspective from hydrogel-focused approach to address few key challenges in stem cell-based therapy for cartilage repair and highlight recent progress in advanced hydrogels, particularly microgels and dynamic hydrogels systems for improving stem cell survival, retention and regulation of stem cell fate. Finally, progress in hydrogel-assisted gene delivery and genome editing approaches for the development of next generation of stem cell therapy for cartilage repair in osteoarthritis are highlighted.
Highlights
Recent studies have shown that there is a close link between inflammation and progression of osteoarthritis, and the main involved factors include reactive oxygen species (ROS), pro-inflammatory cytokines, matrix degrading enzymes, nitric oxide and biomechanical stress
Researchers compared the clinical outcomes of the transplantation of firstgeneration autologous chondrocytes and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)) for cartilage repair in 36 patients in each group, they found life quality of all patients was improved and there was no significant difference between these two cell-types groups [15]
Supramolecular hydrogels of injectable hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels crosslinked by host-guest interaction between β -Cd and Ad, (C) Supramolecular hydrogels carrying MSCs showed better chondrogenic efficiency than MSCs only group, according to the relative quantification of carrying MSCs showed better chondrogenic efficiency than MSCs only group, according to the relative quantification of mRNA levels for chondrogenic markers at days 14 and 28 (n = 4, * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001) [44]
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease characterized by pain and stiffness [1]. It is a progressive disease of the synovial joints, resulting in the destruction of bone, articular cartilage and subchondral bone [2,3]. Since articular cartilage has limited innate self-healing ability, the treatment for cartilage injury caused by osteoarthritis has been a major clinical challenge. Recent studies have shown that there is a close link between inflammation and progression of osteoarthritis, and the main involved factors include reactive oxygen species (ROS), pro-inflammatory cytokines, matrix degrading enzymes, nitric oxide and biomechanical stress. Identifying early inflammatory events and providing timely treatment for inflammation will attenuate the major symptoms of OA patients [4]
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