Development of Nanomaterials to Target Articular Cartilage for Osteoarthritis Therapy

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an obstinate, degradative, and complicated disease that has drawn much attention worldwide. Characterized by its stubborn symptoms and various sequela, OA causes much financial burden on both patients and the health system. What’s more, conventional systematic therapy is not effective enough and causes multiple side effects. There’s much evidence that nanoparticles have unique properties such as high penetration, biostability, and large specific surface area. Thus, it is urgent to exploit novel medications for OA. Nanomaterials have been sufficiently studied, exploiting diverse nano-drug delivery systems (DDSs) and targeted nano therapeutical molecules. The nanomaterials are primarily intra-articular injected under the advantages of high topical concentration and low dosage. After administration, the DDS and targeted nano therapeutical molecules can specifically react with the components, including cartilage and synovium of a joint in OA, furthermore attenuate the chondrocyte apoptosis, matrix degradation, and macrophage recruitment. Thus, arthritis would be alleviated. The DDSs could load with conventional anti-inflammatory drugs, antibodies, RNA, and so on, targeting chondrocytes, synovium, or extracellular matrix (ECM) and releasing the molecules sequentially. The targeted nano therapeutical molecules could directly get to the targeted tissue, alleviating the inflammation and promoting tissue healing. This review will comprehensively collect and evaluate the targeted nanomaterials to articular cartilage in OA.

Overexpression of RAD54L attenuates osteoarthritis by suppressing the HIF-1α/VEGF signaling pathway: Bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation

“…Personal factors, including age, gender, obesity, genetics, and diet, and joint-level factors, such as injury and malalignment, are known risk factors for OA [ 3 , 4 ]. Furthermore, OA is a leading cause of disability, resulting in a financial burden for both patients and healthcare systems [ 1 , 5 , 6 ]. However, there is still no certain cure for OA.…”

Intra‐Articular Injection of Nanomaterials for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis: From Lubrication Function Restoration to Cell and Gene Therapy

“…[25][26][27] The synergistic amalgamation of gene therapy techniques with these nanomaterials offers a dual-faceted therapeutic modality, not only addressing symptomatic relief but also targeting the underlying genetic and molecular pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease. [28][29][30] This review delves into an array of biomimetic joint nanomaterials, such as polymer brushes, nanocomposite hydrogels, and nanoparticles, all inspired by the natural lubricating matrix of articular cartilage. Each material is meticulously engineered to emulate the essential lubrication functions characteristic of healthy articular cartilage.…”

“…[ 25–27 ] The synergistic amalgamation of gene therapy techniques with these nanomaterials offers a dual‐faceted therapeutic modality, not only addressing symptomatic relief but also targeting the underlying genetic and molecular pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease. [ 28–30 ]…”

Nanomaterials in tumor immunotherapy: new strategies and challenges

“…Nanomaterials refer to substances whose structural sizes are between 1 and 100 nm [ 87 , 88 ]. Nanomaterials possess special thermal, biological and electromagnetic properties which are significantly different from general materials, such as surface effect, quantum size effect and macroscopic quantum tunneling effect [ 89 – 92 ]. An increased number of nanomaterials have been applied in cancer research [ 93 – 96 ], with many of them (such as metals and metal oxide nanoparticles) being found to exert unique anti-tumor properties, thus demonstrating the great potential of nanomaterials in tumor therapy [ 65 , 97 , 98 ].…”