Gene therapy of pseudoarthrosis

The gene therapy of pseudoarthrosis created by CFU scientists has been successfully tested in the clinic

Natalia Doroshkevich, KFU Press Service

In Kazan, for the first time in the world, a gene therapy method developed by CFU scientists was successfully applied in a patient with pseudoarthrosis – the so-called false joint, which forms in an unusual place due to a long-existing dislocation or intra-articular fracture.

Researchers of the Research Institute "Gene and Cell Technologies" IFMiB KFU under the guidance of Professor Albert Rizvanov have developed a gene preparation with the inclusion of a combination of factors that cause the growth of blood vessels and bone tissue. The high clinical effectiveness of the method was demonstrated in the treatment of pseudoarthrosis in a patient of the Republican Clinical Hospital of Kazan.

It is important to note that the permission of the ethics committee was obtained for carrying out the corresponding operation within the framework of scientific topics funded by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Tatarstan.

An article with a detailed description of the therapy was published in the journal BioNanoScience (Masgutov et al., Use of Gene-Activated Demineralized Bone Allograft in the Therapy of Ulnar Pseudarthrosis. Case Report).

"We impregnated the bone graft with our genetic preparation, in which one of the genes causes vascular growth, the other causes bone material. Thus, the engraftment and formation of bone tissue took place where it is necessary, – Albert Rizvanov told about the scientific work carried out. – Many teams are engaged in similar research in the world, the difference is that they tested the drug either on laboratory animals or in cell culture, but we managed to show the effect of therapy in the clinic for the first time - in a patient with a false joint."

According to the researcher, for a long time doctors have been trying to fuse the bone with standard, common methods – osteosynthesis in combination with bone grafting – when the missing part of the bone is replaced with a cadaveric or demineralized bone matrix. In the latter case, cells and minerals are removed from the animal's bone material, resulting in a graft – a "bone sponge", the disadvantage of which is a high probability of dissolution in the body.  Moreover, the problem of engraftment of the transplanted graft exists in both cases.

Thus, gene therapy in the case of treatment of pseudoarthrosis becomes a solution to the widespread problem of the presence of negative complications in existing and applied methods. 

I must say that the joint work of researchers of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology and doctors of the RCB began even before the appearance of the medical and sanitary part in the structure of the KFU - in the future, the technology is planned to be used in the treatment of pseudoarthrosis and in patients of the university clinic. 

Recall that in order to speed up the process of introducing biomedical developments into clinical practice, a management system for interdisciplinary scientific projects has been created at KFU – the strategic academic unit "Translational 7P Medicine".

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  05.12.2016