Projektbeschreibung
Hüftdysplasie im Kindesalter erkennen, bevor sich das Zeitfenster für die Behandlung schließt
Die Hüfte ist das größte gewichtstragende Gelenk des Körpers. Die Hüftdysplasie, bei der die Gelenkpfanne zu flach ist, um den Kopf zu stützen, betrifft jedes Jahr Tausende Kinder und Erwachsene. Sie kann zu Arthrose führen, wenn sie nicht vor einem Alter von etwa 13 Jahren behandelt wird, in dem sich die Wachstumsplatten der Hüfte schließen. Vorsorgeuntersuchungen bei Säuglingen sind wichtig, aber eine Hüftdysplasie kann sich auch in der späten Kindheit und im Jugendalter entwickeln. Das vom Europäischen Forschungsrat finanzierte Projekt HIPSTAR wird 8 000 Kinder vom Mutterleib bis zum 18. Lebensjahr begleiten, ein Modell für die Entwicklung der Hüftform ausgestalten und frühe Anzeichen dysplastischen Wachstums aufdecken. Über ein Computermodell werden mögliche Abhilfemaßnahmen geprüft.
Ziel
With 40 million patients in Europe, osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common chronic and disabling disease. OA is incurable, and symptomatic treatments have limited effect. Therefore, prevention by identifying and targeting asymptomatic persons that develop a clear OA risk factor is sorely needed. Hip dysplasia is the strongest risk factor for hip OA. Hip dysplasia is a condition of mechanical instability of the hip caused by insufficient coverage of the femoral head (ball) by a shallow or obliquely oriented acetabulum (socket). This results in high cartilage stress, and subsequent hip OA. In Europe we screen for developmental hip dysplasia in infants (prevalence 2%), enabling early treatment. However, we discovered that hip dysplasia can (further) develop during skeletal maturation and thus remains unrecognized. In 1100 Dutch 9-year-old children we found a 6% and 26% prevalence of marked and mild hip dysplasia, respectively. Hip dysplasia can be influenced until the stage where hip growth plates close at about age 13. I propose a novel research program (HIPSTAR) where I will uniquely unravel the mechanisms behind late childhood hip dysplasia in order to pave the way for devising preventive measures that reduce the prevalence of adult hip dysplasia and, thus, hip OA. In a birth cohort of 8000 children (followed from foetal life until adulthood), I will first uniquely built a 5D growth model on how hip shape develops over time from age 2-18 years. I will gain novel knowledge regarding causal factors of dysplastic growth, and whether there are various phenotypes that have different underlying mechanisms. I also will study how and when dysplastic growth will already impact on the integrity of the young adult joint, and discover very early signs of joint aberration leading to OA. Finally, in a computational model, I will test the influence of loading factors on dysplastic growth mechanistically, and provide detailed information regarding the potential remedial options.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesdevelopmental biology
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineobstetricsfetal medicine
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineorthopaedics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencescomputational sciencemultiphysics
- natural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model
Programm/Programme
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Gastgebende Einrichtung
3015 GD Rotterdam
Niederlande