Current Rheumatology Reviews - Volume 4, Issue 3, 2008

In recent years, hopes have been raised, not only by the scientific community, that stem cells might be a therapeutic alternative for the treatment of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or osteoarthritis. In this issue, we have combined a series of reviews to elucidate various aspects of stem cell biology that may be applicable to our understanding of the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis and development of novel therapeutic app Read More

Studies of chondrogenesis and embryonic limb development offer a wealth of knowledge regarding signals that regulate the behavior of chondrocytes. Many such chondrogenic regulators are upregulated in osteoarthritis-affected chondrocytes, suggesting a role in pathogenesis. Yet, some of the same factors also support adult articular cartilage homeostasis, and enhance neo-cartilage tissue formation in experimenta Read More

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are derived from mesodermal precursor and are committed towards mesenchymal differentiation. They are scattered all over the organism, situated in bone, cartilage, adipose tissue and accompany organs for tissue regeneration and structural and functional support. MSC populations are not homogenous, their signature is variable according to their localization. A process called “epi Read More

Daily increasing evidence indicates that stem cells can be found in nearly every tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells, which reside in the bone marrow and other mesenchymal tissues. MSCs can be expanded to large numbers and can be driven into diverse mesenchymal cell lineages, including chondrocytes. Therefore, MSCs have attracted the attention of the biomedical community as very promising tool Read More

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease and the leading cause of disability in the developed countries. Its clinical manifestations include pain and impairment to movement, and often affect surrounding tissues with symptoms of local inflammation. It is a progressively debilitating disease that is often associated with injury and aging. However, current pharmacological and surgical treatment modalities u Read More

The identification of mesenchymal progenitor cells in bone marrow and various joint related tissues like cartilage or synovial tissue renders the cell-biologic systems on which the pathogenetic concepts of osteoarthritis have been developed more complicated by introducing a novel cellular player. The progenitor cells could have different implications in the osteoarthritic process but their precise role is not known so far. For b Read More

The complex pathobiologic changes of human joint disease, particularly osteoarthritis (OA), normally take several decades to develop and may be influenced by a multitude of genetic and environmental factors. The need to clarify the molecular events that occur in joint tissues at the onset and during the progression of OA has necessitated the use of models, which, although imperfect, can exhibit many of the pathologic feature Read More

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative disorder of the joints with an etiology involving genetic and environmental factors. Although various animal models have been used to elucidate the pathogenesis of OA, in the past decade gene targeting in mice has become one of the most powerful tools to dissect the molecular mechanisms of the disease. The generation of knockout mice has enormously accelerated the id Read More

Despite its highly specialized nature, articular cartilage has a poor reparative capability. Therefore chondral and osteochondral lesions remain a difficult problem for the patient and the physician. Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation was first reported 1994 by Brittberg et al. as an alternative for the treatment of these injuries. Since the original description of Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation many new techn Read More

After partial or total meniscus resection, cartilage degeneration can be observed in many knee joints, frequently culminating in osteoarthritic changes. Therefore, a meniscus preserving therapy should be performed whenever possible. However, despite improved surgical techniques and new treatment strategies, meniscal tissue resection cannot always be avoided. Currently, only few treatment options are available after Read More

The plasticity of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) is of major interest for diagnosis and therapy of bone diseases. Interactions between osteoblasts and adipocytes seem to be involved in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. This review is intended to elucidate a link between osteoarthritis and the differentiation of MSCs towards the adipocytic or osteoblastic lineage. Viewing osteoarthritis as a systemic disease, recent data underlin Read More

Articular cartilage is essentially avascular and in recent years the role of blood vessel formation in osteoarthritis has been increasingly recognized. Therefore, healthy cartilage most likely actively prevents vessel in growth although the underlying mechanisms have not been uncovered to date. Further, the role of inflammation in the degradative processes in osteoarthritis is increasingly recognized. An inflammation dependent a Read More

It remains a great challenge to enhance the regeneration potential of hyaline cartilage tissue. Tissue degeneration activities initiated after major injury or due to age-related processes override the generally limited self-renewal capacity of this tissue. Numerous catalytic enzymes lead to chondrocyte apoptosis and extracellular matrix deterioration. During early embryonic development, some of the embryonic stem cells o Read More