Tissue engineering has immense potential in the area of cartilage repair, and experimental studies have shown that cartilage constructs can repair small focal defects. Future applications of this technology, to repair large defects, in joints with significant curvature, will require significant development of this technology to overcome two technical hurdles, fixation and shape. TheriForm technology allows for the three-dimensional printing of scaffolds with specific shapes. We have shown that this technology can make scaffolds able to support cartilage construct growth. A composite scaffold was also created that contained a cartilage-appropriate scaffold with an attached calcium phosphate scaffold, appropriate for bone integration. The objective of this Phase I proposal is to determine the potential for cartilage-bone scaffolds, made by the TheriForm process, to act as an implantation device supporting fixation and bone integration. This will be done by making cartilage-bone scaffolds, growing cartilage constructs on them, and implanting them into the knee joints of sheep. The fixation and integration will be assessed at 1 month after surgery. The long-term goal is to use the TheriForm process to create scaffolds for cartilage construct growth that will be representative of joint surfaces, and ultimately be used to repair large areas of joints, and whole joint surfaces.
The successful outcome of this research will result in the development of tisssue engineered devices that can be used to repair large defects in articular joint. These joints may include, but not limited to the knee, hip, TMJ, elbow, and shoulder. At the present time there is no commercial method to provide this repair, nor is there likely to be in the near future. This is therefore targeted at a large and unmet clinical need, with a potentially enormous market.
