Join the club for FREE to access the whole archive and other member benefits.

New CRISPR based stem cell implant releases drug as required in arthritis

Reduced inflammation & bone damage in mice; relieves patients from their regular use of injections

02-Sep-2021

Key points from article :

CRISPR-engineered induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) deliver anticytokine biologic drug in response to inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

“Cells remain in the body for a long time and secrete a drug when there is a flare of inflammation,” - Farshid Guilak, senior investigator.

When implanted subcutaneously in a mouse model of RA, the engineered cells reduced inflammation and also prevented bone erosion.

Could overcome challenges observed with constant delivery of cytokine inhibitors and mitigate unwanted averse effects.

If one drug works better than another in a patient, it may be possible to make personalized treatments.

“We’ve demonstrated that we can make living tissue into a drug-delivery system,” - Kelsey H. Collins, co-first author.

Ongoing work for further tuning of the cellular responses in other chronic inflammatory disease models.

Study by Washington University School of Medicine published in Science Advances.

Mentioned in this article:

Click on resource name for more details.

Farshid Guilak

Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University

Kelsey Collins

Postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Science Advances

Journal that publishes original research and reviews in all disciplines of science

Washington University in St. Louis

Private multidisciplinary research university.

Topics mentioned on this page:
Stem Cells, Inflammaging