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