Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EVEREST (Extracellular Vesicles for Bone Regeneration – alternatives to Stem-cell Therapy)
Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2023-10-31
Critically, most MSCs are produced for bone repair in culture environments that are dissimilar to their native environment in the body. We postulate that by culturing MSCs in environments that mimic more closely their environment in the body they will be more therapeutically relevant. Furthermore, the therapeutic benefits of MSCs has been attributed to their secreted factors, in particular their secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs are nanoparticles that deliver bioactive cargo (nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids) between cells to communicate between cells. The objectives of the current project is to first identify the cell culture environments that yield EVs that are the most potent in terms of modulating the immune system to promote healing, as well as to attract host stem cells and aid those cells to differentiate into bone cells that can fabricate bone tissue. A further objective is to fabricate 3D constructs made out of these EVs and biomaterials that will allow release of the EVs to the surrounding damaged tissue, while also enabling degradation of the scaffold and healing of the bone void. The global aim is to develop a platform for targeted EV delivery in easy to transport and handle, ‘off-the-shelf’ 3D constructs, which in the future have the potential to reduce pain by elimination of bone or bone marrow harvest, and revolutionize the treatment of bone defects.