Wellness & Fitness

Surgeons use nose cells to repair knee joints

knee

Kenyan researchers say rheumatoid arthritis is increasingly attacking younger people. PHOTO | FOTOSEARCH

A group of Swiss doctors has successfully used cells harvested from the nose to produce cartilage used in knee transplants, according to studies published in the medical journal The Lancet.

Cartilage is a fine, rubbery tissue that acts as a cushion between joint bones, allowing them to slide smoothly over one another.

The tissue can be damaged by sudden injury such as in sporting accidents, autoimmune conditions or through gradual wear and tear.

Because the tissue does not have its own blood supply, it has limited capacity to repair itself once damaged, leading to degenerative joint conditions like osteoarthritis.

People with cartilage damage commonly experience joint pain, inflammation and stiffness.

Doctors from the University Hospital Basel in Switzerland used cells harvested from the nasal septum — the membrane dividing the two nostrils — of 10 patients to generate the repair cartilage.

Two years after reconstruction, most recipients reported improvements in pain, knee function, and quality of life as well as developing repair tissue that is similar in composition to native cartilage. However, the treatment still needs more trials before it can be approved for routine clinical use.

The researchers say that the small number of participants and the relatively short follow-up time means that further studies will be needed.

“The use of this procedure in everyday clinical practice is still a long way off as it requires rigorous assessment of efficacy in larger groups of patients and the development of manufacturing strategies to ensure cost effectiveness,” said Prof Ivan Martin, who led the study.

“Moreover, in order to extend the potential use of this technique to older people or those with degenerative cartilage pathologies like osteoarthritis, a lot more fundamental and pre-clinical research work needs to be done.”

With the lifespan of people increasing and with some diseases traditionally associated with old age now attacking younger people, such developments promise remedy for many.

In 2014, researchers at Kenyatta National Hospital and the University of Nairobi identified 60 rheumatoid arthritis patients at the hospital and concluded that the disease was increasingly attacking younger Kenyans.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s own immune system attacks the joints.

The researchers, led by Dr B.O. Owino, found the disease peaking at two age brackets; at between 20 and 29 when most would be expected to be entering the job market, and at age 40 to 49 when most should be at the peak of their careers.

According to the study, published in the East African Medical Journal, the disease was previously known to peak at age 43 “but now there are increasing cases of it peaking below 20 years.”

Potential side effects

Still, the results from the Swiss study have been described as impressive by other researchers, who see its potential in the treatment of cartilage damage.

In a linked comment, Dr Nicole Rotter from Ulm University Medical Centre and Dr Rolf Brenner from the University of Ulm, in Germany, said: “Overall, this first-in-human trial represents an important advance towards less invasive, cell-based repair technologies for articular cartilage defects, because the site of tissue harvest is not located within the healthy part of a joint, avoiding potential side-effects of harvesting.”

Until now, efforts to generate repair cartilage using patients’ own cartilage cells have been unable to predictably restore tissue structure and function in the long term.