Until now, worn-down knees have typically been treated in stages: first, manage the discomfort, then, as cartilage continues to wear away, consider replacing the joint.<\/p>\n
But new research<\/a> out of Stanford Medicine suggests that may not be the only path.<\/p>\n What happened?<\/p>\n In a study<\/a> published in Science, a Stanford Medicine team reported that a one-time injection targeting an enzyme tied to aging not only rebuilt damaged cartilage in older mice but also prevented arthritis in about half of the mice.<\/p>\n Dr. Helen Blau, one of the study’s authors, told<\/a> KTVU FOX 2, “We were surprised. We were amazed to see that extent of regeneration of the cartilage.”<\/p>\n In the researcher’s structured abstract, they explained<\/a> the importance of the paper, saying “cartilage is one of the least regenerative tissues, which presents a challenge of fundamental interest and a major unmet medical need as osteoarthritis afflicts mobility in one out of five adults.”<\/p>\n The authors added that “there are limited effective disease modifying therapies for OA that restore cartilage function and treatment options are limited to pain management and eventual joint replacement.”<\/p>\n The researchers focused on 15-hydroxy prostaglandin dehydrogenase, or 15-PGDH, an enzyme that increases with age and appears to hinder cartilage repair.<\/p>\n In separate lab tests, the team treated human cartilage taken from patients undergoing knee replacement with the inhibitor and observed the cells begin producing new cartilage.<\/p>\n Why does it matter?<\/p>\n Osteoarthritis affects about one-fifth of U.S. adults, around 60 million people, per Stanford Medicine, and current treatments largely focus on pain relief rather than repair.<\/p>\n Anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid injections, physical therapy, and surgery can help people function, but none of them restore lost cartilage.<\/p>\n The Stanford team said existing cartilage cells, called<\/a> chondrocytes, appeared to reset themselves and behave more like younger cells, rather than relying on stem cells to rebuild tissue. If that finding holds up in people, it could point to a very different way of treating joint damage.<\/p>\n The discovery and associated technology are not yet available for arthritis patients. But the 15-PGDH inhibitor has already moved into Phase 1 testing through Epirium Bio for age-related muscle weakness, and Stanford Medicine says early data show that it is safe and pharmacologically active in healthy volunteers.<\/p>\n Researchers are now hoping<\/a> to launch a separate study to test whether the same approach can safely regenerate cartilage in people with joint damage.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Until now, worn-down knees have typically been treated in stages: first, manage the discomfort, then, as cartilage continues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[308699,97,44187],"class_list":["post-716341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cartilage-cells","tag-health","tag-stanford-medicine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}