Bone regeneration: Revolutionary surgical alternative to bone transplants
Novel bioengineering technologies have been developed to aid bone regeneration, greatly reducing harmful side-effects associated with traditional treatments.
A multidisciplinary team of bioengineers and cell engineers at University of Glasgow have discovered a low cost, commercially produced polymer, applied to synthetic implant material as a bioactive coating.
Naturally occurring molecules, known as ‘growth factors’, play an essential role in stimulating bone regrowth, with clinicians traditionally using the powerful bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) to achieve this.
Unfortunately, high doses are needed to ensure effectiveness which can lead to damaging side-effects including neurological impairment or even tumours.
Discovering a unique property of the polymer, poly(ethyl acrylate), or PEA has allowed the development of a unique delivery system, where an extremely thin coating applied to synthetic bone material allows the delivery of BMP-2 in a format that cells are more used to interacting with.
As a result, the treatment is much more biologically active, requiring doses around 300 times lower than is currently being used, meaning the harmful side-effects associated with traditional treatment are greatly reduced.
This breakthrough treatment has already been used successfully in several veterinary cases, including a two-year-old dog, named Eva, whose leg was broken after being hit by a car. Despite receiving lengthy state-of-the-art-care, a 2 cm gap developed at the top of the leg and amputation seemed inevitable. Using the team’s pioneering coated bone implant material, the bone fully regrew and Eva made a full recovery.
This initial success has provided a platform for:
Further ground breaking bone graft technologies being successfully trialled in a number of cases in the veterinary clinic.
The engineered synthetic bone material being further developed for human clinical trials.
The provision of an innovative solution to, non-healing critical sized bone defects in both animals and humans.
These revolutionary technologies, developed by Professor Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez and Professor Matt Dalby from the Centre for the Cellular Microenvironment (CeMi), together with their teams, provide a revolutionary surgical alternative to bone transplants, including the development of 3D printed scaffolds, coated with PEA and used in combination with the cell therapy.
Together they form a flexible toolkit that provides safe, efficient, and cost-effective treatments that can be personalised according to individual patient needs.
This work has been funded by the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation, a charity supporting landmine survivors, and the European Union Horizon 2020 programme.
Next steps
The team are developing a cellular therapy where stem cells are primed towards bone-forming cells using mechanical stimulation. This is currently being prepared for the first-in-human trial in 2022.
To find out more, please contact: Manuel.Salmeron-Sanchez@glasgow.ac.uk