Journal of Cell Science & Therapy
Open Access
ISSN: 2157-7013
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2157-7013
+44 1300 500008
Caroline Hoemann
Keynote: J Cell Sci Ther
C artilage repair is a critical un-met need in our aging population. Th e current standard-of-care is marrow stimulation therapy, where holes are pierced in the bone below the cartilage lesion to promote bleeding and a marrow-derived repair response. However this approach frequently leads to a biomechanically unstable repair tissue that incompletely fi lls the lesion. We previously conceived that chitosan, a polysaccharide biomaterial known to stimulate wound repair, could be used to make an implant that stimulated microfracture repair. Using animal cartilage repair models, we showed that the therapeutic response to marrow stimul ation is signifi cantly improved when a mixture of liquid chitosan and whole autologous blood is solidifi ed over the microfracture defect. Timely clearance of chitosan particles from the lesion by neutrophils leads to local therapeutic eff ects, including attraction of osteoclasts which remodel the subchondral bone, and alternatively activated macrophages which release angiogenic factors. Th e implant also draws bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSC) near the surface of the repairing defect, which triggers cartil age regeneration at later stages of repair. In vitro experiments using fl uorescent chitosan derivatives show that many cell types internalize the polysaccharide polymer (BMSC, neutrophils, macrophages). However chitosan particles alone are unable to promote osteoblast diff erentiation of BMSCs, or alternative activation of macrophages. Instead, our data show that chitosan facilitates the release o f chemokines, instead of catabolic factors, which simulates bone marrow stromal cell migration to the repairing surgically-induce d lesion
Dr. Hoemann (PhD, MIT, 1993), spent 5 years as an R&D director, in a Montreal-based biomedical device company, where she co- invented a novel medical device for articular cartilage repair, BST-CarGel�. The product was recently tested in an 80-patient r andomized clinical trial, with promising interim data at 1 year post-treatment. Dr. Hoemann is an associate professor of Chemical Enginee ring, has over 40 publications, 6 patents, and serves on the editorial board of Cartilage, and The Open Orthopaedics Journal. Her transla tional research program aims to understand the mechanisms of cartilage repair, in order to bring new treatment options to patients wit h arthritis