Orthopedic researchers have developed a promising new nanoparticle hydrogel that can be injected directly into bones weakened by osteoporosis. In a study recently published in the journal Bone, experts say that their novel solution could help patients resist potentially fatal osteoporotic fractures.
Osteoporosis is an incurable disease that eventually affects an estimated 50 percent of women and 25 percent of men over the age of 50. Weakened and brittle bones often result in osteoporotic fractures, many of which can pose major longterm complications, some of which are deadly. But while existing medication regimens either decrease old bone resorption rates or support new bone generation, these treatments can take as long as a year before providing tangible results.
“In the absence of effective preventive measures, around 40 percent of women aged 50 and older will suffer at least one major osteoporotic fracture; in men, the percentage is around 20 percent,” Dominque Pioletti, head of the Laboratory of Biomechanical Orthopedics at Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and study coauthor, said in an accompanying statement on Tuesday.
Pioletti added that many people who experience osteoporotic fractures don’t necessarily realize how severe the injury may be. Elderly patients, for example, face a 20 percent mortality rate within a year of fracturing the femoral neck bone near their hips. Of that same population, over half will never completely heal from their injuries.
The approach developed by Pioletti’s team, in collaboration with EPFL startup Flowbone, deals directly with the sites of potential fractures. Most localized options take the form of pastes that harden into reinforcing, cementlike material. The new treatment, however, relies on a hydrogel made from hyaluronic acid and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles, which together mimic a bone’s naturally occurring minerals.
In laboratory trials, researchers injected the hydrogel into the bones of rats with osteoporosis. Within only a few weeks, experts saw a two-to-threefold increase in local bone densities when just using the hydrogel by itself. When combined with a popular anti-catabolic drug Zoledronate, injection site bone density increased as much as 4.8-fold in only 2-4 weeks.
The hydrogel injections are not a cure-all, and did not necessarily provide a permanent solution to local bone weakening. Still, combining it with existing therapy may help speed up patients’ relief and recovery efforts.
“Our findings suggest that injectable hydrogels with localized anti-catabolic drug delivery can complement systemic anti-catabolic treatment, or bone-boosting systemic anabolic treatment, by rapidly increasing local bone density,” said Pioletti.
Moving forward, Pioletti’s team and Flowbone hope to begin clinical human trials after receiving regulatory approval.
“Then, we want to build on this evidence, ultimately to develop therapies to prevent fractures due to osteoporosis,” he said.
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