Doctors set to lead the way in knee joint repair with nasal cartilage therapy
The project, funded by EU, is called ENCANTO.
Knee joint defects are being treated with cartilage from the nose. However, a new project called ENCANTO (not inspired by the Disney movie) wants to further this procedure.
Led by Dr Oliver Pullig, the team will collaborate with University Hospital Basel to produce implants that can be used to treat damaged knees.
The doctors will take a small piece of cartilage from the nasal septum of patients and then grow it in a laboratory on a supportive collagen structure.
After four weeks, this cultured cartilage will be implanted into the damaged knee to regenerate new cartilage tissue. The cartilage matrix will be used in 12 clinical centers across Europe, as per the press release by University Hospital Würzburg.
Bye bye arthritis?
In Würzburg, the plan includes a total production of 56 implants and the recruitment of 25 patients. The goal is to promote the regeneration of healthy cartilage tissue and improve joint function.
This technique, autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) or autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT), is typically used for smaller defects and early-stage osteoarthritis in the knee joint.
ENCANTO is a European Union-funded project with a budget of 11.3 million euros under the HORIZON-HLTH-2023-TOOL-05 program. University Hospital Würzburg receives 1.88 million euros for this initiative.
Dr. Pullig and his team have already demonstrated this technique's safety and efficacy in a nasal cartilage study involving over 100 individuals.
They're taking their study a step further, aiming to tackle more complex knee woes, like patellofemoral osteoarthritis (PFOA), with the ENCANTO project.
With a whopping 11.3 million euros, Dr. Pullig's team is poised to make knee cartilage regeneration a reality across Europe.
"With these substantial funding amounts, which finally allow us to prepare the product for approval, we have reached the Champions League," said Pullig.
However, creating cartilage is a meticulous process that requires the utmost care and precision. While the implant procedure is straightforward, growing the cartilage outside the body is challenging.
Challenges with the plan
Since the implant contains living cells, it's classified as an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP), which means special rules regulate it.
"These are human cells. They don't always behave as we desire or expect," said Dr. Sarah Nietzer, who's leading the charge on quality control.
"We need more data to understand why, for example, the cells from one person don't grow as well as those from another. Additionally, we are working on a method to monitor the quality and viability of the cells throughout the entire production process, in real-time, and not just at the end. It would be fantastic if we could also apply this new method to other models used to simulate various diseases in the department,” added Dr Nietzer.
If all goes according to plan, these nasal cartilage implants could be the key to unlocking a new era in knee treatment, sparing millions from the agony of arthritis.
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