Some 25 million people in the United States alone suffer from rheumatoid arthritis or its cousin osteoarthritis, diseases characterized by often debilitating pain in the joints. Now researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) report an injectable gel that could spell the future for treating these diseases and others.
Among its advantages, the gel could allow the targeted release of medicine at an affected joint, and could dispense that medicine on demand in response to enzymes associated with arthritic flare-ups.
"We think that this platform could be useful for multiple medical applications including the localized treatment of cancer, ocular disease, and cardiovascular disease," said Jeffrey Karp, leader of the research and co-director of the Center for Regenerative Therapeutics at BWH.
Karp will present the findings April 15 at the annual meeting of the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) as part of winning the coveted SFB Young Investigator Awardfor this work. The work was also reported by Karp and colleagues in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (JBMR): Part A, and is currently available on the journal's website.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/222240.phpSome 25 million people in the United States alone suffer from rheumatoid arthritis or its cousin osteoarthritis, diseases characterized by often debilitating pain in the joints. Now researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) report an injectable gel that could spell the future for treating these diseases and others.
Among its advantages, the gel could allow the targeted release of medicine at an affected joint, and could dispense that medicine on demand in response to enzymes associated with arthritic flare-ups.
"We think that this platform could be useful for multiple medical applications including the localized treatment of cancer, ocular disease, and cardiovascular disease," said Jeffrey Karp, leader of the research and co-director of the Center for Regenerative Therapeutics at BWH.
Karp will present the findings April 15 at the annual meeting of the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) as part of winning the coveted SFB Young Investigator Awardfor this work. The work was also reported by Karp and colleagues in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (JBMR): Part A, and is currently available on the journal's website.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/222240.php
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