Recently, Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd. cooperated with Beijing Hospital to carry out a clinical research project on intra-articular injection of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.After filing and approval, Beike Biotech successfully assisted Beijing Hospital in completing the filing of stem cell clinical research projects.
Osteoarthritis (OA)Refers to a degenerative disease with joint pain as the main symptom caused by fibrosis, cracking, ulceration, and loss of articular cartilage caused by various factors. The clinical manifestations include joint pain and tenderness, limited joint movement, joint deformity, bone friction, muscle atrophy, etc.[1].
According to relevant statistics,More than 240 million people worldwide suffer from arthritis, and it is expected that by 2032, about 30% of people over the age of 45 will suffer from OA. The treatment of OA includes early non-surgical treatment and later joint replacement. There is currently a lack of effective means to intervene in the occurrence of OA and/or prevent the progression of OA[2].
With the continuous development of regenerative medicine, more and more studies have shown that the key to treating OA is to prevent the immune inflammation of cartilage and synovial tissue and the process of excessive apoptosis of chondrocytes, and promote the regeneration of cartilage progenitor cells and repair damaged cartilage. [3]Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-based treatment provides an innovative and effective treatment strategy for OA prevention and cartilage regeneration due to its good self-renewal and regeneration capabilities[4]. Studies have shown that MSCs can alleviate the joint degeneration of OA by secreting various factors and exerting immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties; at the same time, cultured MSCs under specific circumstances have the ability to differentiate into bone and cartilage, promote bone and cartilage regeneration, and inhibit inflammation, bringing new hope for the treatment of OA[5].
Mechanism of MSCs in treating OA[6]：
①paracrine: Research shows that the main mechanism of MSCs participating in tissue repair is through paracrine activity, producing a variety of nutritional factors with various properties, reducing tissue damage, enhancing tissue repair, resisting the premature aging of OA chondrocytes induced by inflammatory stress, and playing a protective role in degenerative joints;
②Reduce the levels of inflammatory factors and the concentration of chemokines. Some studies have found that serum inflammatory factor levels decreased significantly after umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell treatment compared with before treatment, confirming that UC-MSCs have a protective effect on OA cartilage and synovium, which is related to the inhibition of inflammatory response;
③ Homing adjustment: MSCs will preferentially accumulate at sites of tissue damage and inflammation. In the treatment of OA, MSCs can be targeted and delivered to damaged articular cartilage, inhibit immune-mediated cartilage destruction, and promote cartilage repair through paracrine stimulation of cartilage differentiation and intrinsic residual repair.
Project name：Evaluating the efficacy of intra-articular injection of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis
Cooperating Hospital：Beijing Hospital
Project content: Through intra-articular injection treatment of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells, the correlation between conventional observation indicators such as knee joint symptoms, knee joint function and MRI sequence signal changes is evaluated. In addition, based on conventional magnetic resonance, magnetic resonance UTE technology was innovatively used to evaluate the repair status of articular cartilage from the aspects of morphology of repaired cartilage and quantification of cartilage matrix proteins. This study hopes that through intra-articular injection of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells, it can provide objective clinical evaluation indicators for cartilage repair on the basis of improving patients’ knee pain symptoms and increasing knee joint mobility.
As of now, Beike Biotechnology and Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University School of Medicine, Shiyan Taihe Hospital, Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital, GuangzhouFirst Affiliated Hospital of State University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (Anhui Provincial Hospital), Beijing HospitalWe have established close cooperative relationships with other medical institutions, and assisted many hospitals to successfully pass the registration of stem cell clinical research institutions, and also supportedMultiple clinical research projects have passed stem cell clinical research project registration, involvingLupu nephritis, cerebral palsy in children, type 2 diabetes, moderate to severe and refractory systemic lupus erythematosus, osteoarthritisetc.
In the future, Beike Biotech will continue to focus on key scientific issues and cutting-edge technologies in the fields of stem cells and regenerative medicine, continuously improve its scientific research strength and innovation pace, accelerate the transformation and clinical application of related technical products in the cell field, and push the continuous development of China’s cell industry, and make unremitting efforts to improve human health.
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