Another Potential Arthritis Therapy
A number of different genetic and gene therapy approaches presently hold out the promise of a cure for arthritis. Here, the Telegraph reports on a different way forward - tissue engineering of replacement cartilage: "Experts from the University of Bristol took just over a month to grow a half-inch piece of cartilage using stem cells, which are self-renewing and have the ability to grow into blood, bones or organs. ... Crucially, the new technique is expected to overcome problems of transplant rejection because the patient's own cells would be used to create the cartilage. ... Tests have shown that the laboratory-grown cartilage is of better quality than any previous attempts at tissue engineering. This means it should be 'springy' enough to work in a knee joint. Transplant trials on NHS osteoarthritis patients are expected within two years."
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/18/ncells18.xml