Grant: Project Grant

Ten percent of Canadian adults suffer from joint cartilage damage and osteoarthritis (OA) with an estimated cost to society of more than 33 billion dollars a year and incalculable suffering for affected individuals and their families. Sixty percent of OA patients are of typical working age (20-64 years). Cartilage defects larger than 4 centimeter-square are a clinical challenge to treat, but joint cartilage chips, sometimes referred to as particulate or morselized cartilage, has shown significant clinical promise, regardless of whether the cartilage was sourced from juvenile human cadavers, unrelated adult cadavers or the patients themselves. Current cartilage chips methods are hampered by limited supply of human donor material, risk of disease transmission, suboptimal graft tissue, donor site morbidity in case of autologous cartilage, and cost of human allograft material in some cases. Donor age, co-morbidities, and harvest site may all negatively influence the biological potency of the cartilage graft. We propose to solve these issues by using cartilage generated in the laboratory from neonatal allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC). We will vitrify (freeze) the cartilage tissue for indefinite storage and availability as an off-the-shelf live-cell cartilage graft that can be implanted using standard surgical methods. Aims for this 3-year proof-of-principle project: A1) In vitro generation of vitrified equine MSC-derived cartilage chips. A2) In vitro generation of vitrified human MSC-derived cartilage chips. A3) In vivo assessment of non-vitrified (fresh) and vitrified equine MSC-derived cartilage-chips for large induced cartilage defects in research horses. Fully implemented, this therapy would provide a safe, efficacious, cost-effective and technically simple treatment for Canadians as well as provide an opportunity for a Canadian biotechnology business to bank and distribute vitrified cartilage tissue in unlimited quantities to the world market.