Project description
Using goat models to unlock cartilage repair
Damage to articular cartilage poses a challenge due to its inability to regenerate its zonal structure. When cartilage is injured, the repair tissue lacks the necessary zonal complexity, leading to deterioration and persistent pain. This often results in the need for joint replacement, impacting millions globally. Understanding how the zonal structure forms and regenerates in articular cartilage is critical for advancing treatments. With this in mind, the ERC-funded ReZone project will use a goat model to study how articular cartilage develops its complex zonal structure. Goats are chosen because their joint and cartilage structures are similar to those of humans. By comparing gene activity in different loading states, the project will identify key pathways involved in zonal emergence.
Objective
Articular cartilage (AC) has a complex zonal structure and composition, providing it with its essential functional properties. However, when cartilage is damaged, the zonal complexity does not regenerate, leaving an inferior tissue which is prone to degeneration. As a result, cartilage injury commonly leads to pain and the eventual need for joint replacement. Progress towards true regeneration of AC requires an advance in understanding of how zonal complexity (and corresponding function) emerge over development. The most promising clue to understanding zonal emergence is that mechanical forces are known to be important for normal AC development.
ReZone will reveal the mechanisms underlying zonal emergence through a novel goat model in which a common veterinary procedure is repurposed to create a radically altered mechanical environment in the developing joint. By comparing gene activity between normal and altered states of zonal emergence, I will identify pathways likely to be involved in zonal emergence. I will leverage my expertise in cartilage explant culture and mechanostimulation bioreactors to develop a novel in vitro explant model, and use this model to validate candidate pathways. Finally, I will demonstrate the therapeutic potential of molecular regulators of zonal emergence using gene-activated biomaterials to regenerate zonal emergence in an in vivo, large-animal model of cartilage repair.
ReZone will provide a step-change in our understanding of how zonal AC develops postnatally, including the role of mechanical loading. The project’s ambitious aim is to bring about enhanced regeneration of AC through activation of the developmental processes which form functional cartilage in early life. Revealing key mechanisms underlying zonal emergence in immature AC will enable true regeneration of injured AC, improving quality of life for patients with articular cartilage defects worldwide.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
4 Dublin
Ireland