Stem Cell Therapy For Damaged Cartilage

Cline are developing an allogeneic cell therapy based on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to treat damaged cartilage. IPS cells have a human adult origin which allows the possibility to scale the amount of cartilage cells without patient specific limitations. There are several conditions such as trauma or osteoarthritis that degenerate the patient's cartilage. Since cartilage cannot be healed or regenerated by the body it’s often necessary to replace the damaged joint to treat the patient. Due to this, there is a great need for a functional cell therapy for treatment of damaged cartilage.

We call this project StemCART and the goal is to be able to provide a scalable and reliable treatment for patients with damaged cartilage.

Background

Organs and tissues such as cartilage and limbs are formed during embryo development by means of gradual changes in the amount of different growth factors. Cellular processes that control the cells start to develop into specific cell types. In the StemCART project, Cline benefits from this phenomenon by attaching these biomolecules to the gold nanoparticles on Cline's gradient surfaces, thus creating an environment that is able to mimic nature. The gradients are used during differentiation of iPS cells against cartilage to provide a unique, defined and growth-promoting environment with molecular precision.

The basic idea

The human body cannot reproduce or repair cartilage on its own, mainly because of the lack of blood flow in the joints. Damaged cartilage must therefore be replaced either with implants or regenerated by supplying healthy cartilage cells. An opportunity that opens up in the latter case is also to be able to remedy the problem at an earlier stage and thus significantly reduce patient suffering. With the help of gradient surfaces and nano-surfaces, a homogeneous cell population is to be cultivated with optimal conditions for developing into chondrocytes, cartilage cells, after a condensation phase where the cells reach the stage required for healing of damage after application in the affected joint.

The product

StemCART is a stem cell therapy for cartilage damage based on the very high level of control provided by nanotechnology. The method of forming cartilage from iPS cells in this way is unique and a patent application is filed to protect the product.

StemCART development

StemCART is currently in a preclinical development stage where the product is being developed, validated, undergoing safety testing in preparation for in-human clinical trials. To read more about the science carried on StemCART and Cline’s nanotechnology, you can read the following publications.

1. Andreasson, L., Evenbratt, H. and Simonsson, S., 2020. GDF5 induces TBX3 in a concentration dependent manner-on a gold nanoparticle gradient. Heliyon, 6(6), p.e04133.

2. Andreasson, L., Evenbratt, H., Mobini, R. and Simonsson, S., 2021. Differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into definitive endoderm on Activin A-functionalized gradient surfaces. Journal of Biotechnology, 325, pp.173-178.

3. Evenbratt, H., Andreasson, L., Bicknell, V., Brittberg, M., Mobini, R. and Simonsson, S., 2022. Insights into the present and future of cartilage regeneration and joint repair. Cell Regeneration, 11(1), p.3.

4. Evenbratt, H., Munem, M. and Malmberg, P., 2020. ToF-SIMS imaging of dual biomolecular monolayer gradients. Biointerphases, 15(6), p.061014.

5. Lundgren, A., Hulander, M., Brorsson, J., Hermansson, M., Elwing, H., Andersson, O., Liedberg, B. and Berglin, M., 2014. Gold Nanoparticle Assisted Self Assembly of Chemical Gradients with Tunable Sub 50 nm Molecular Domains. Particle & particle systems characterization, 31(2), pp.209-218.