Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have established a novel approach to tackle the current challenge of bone regeneration through harnessing the power of skeletal stem cells (SSCs).
Description
While humans, up to 2 years of age, can regenerate calvarial bone defects during the early stages of development through the activation of SSCs, to date a lack of strategies to endogenously harness SSCs has been a significant barrier to their use as a therapeutic strategy in older adults. This approach has shown the potential of both surgical and chemical approaches to “activate” SSCs present in humans to promote regeneration of bone in the absence of biomaterial implants or other osteogenic tissue implants.
Applications
• Osteoporosis prevention
• Traumatic bone injuries
• Congenital bone abnormalities
• Bioengineered bone regeneration autotherapies
Advantages
Regeneration of craniofacial defects remains a difficult task and is a serious global health burden. Current treatments include therapeutic aids, biomaterial implants, and recombinant growth factors; however, these are not without side effects and limitations in efficacy and safety.
Developing an approach to activate the body’s own reservoir of SSCs would be highly advantageous and would overcome some of the biological, regulatory, and financial barriers associated with the current treatment options.
Invention Readiness
Animal studies have shown that the transcription factor, PRX1 (or PRRX1), is highly expressed during limb and craniofacial development and identifies SSCs responsible for the calvarial bone regeneration process in the post-natal period. The amount of PRX1 expressing SSCs declines with age. Research using older animals has shown that mechanical and controlled expansion of sagittal sutures in mature animals can induce proliferation of these SSCs leading to regeneration of the parietal bone. Additional research has shown niclosamide (an anti-helminthic FDA-approved drug) can induce proliferation of PRX1 expressing SSCs in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo and could be a potential pharmaceutical approach to rejuvenate skeletal tissue with no negative effect on bone mass.
IP Status
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2024064964A2
