UF researchers are developing a potential one-time gene therapy treatment for osteoarthritis, a chronic joint disease.
The National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases awarded a one-year $900,000 grant to UF researchers to continue their laboratory studies of osteoarthritis gene therapy in horses.
Osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis, is a condition in which cartilage in the joints wears away, causing bare bones to rub against each other. Currently, there is no cure for the condition.
Though people can take pain medication for temporarily relief, over time they will lose mobility, said Dr. Steven Ghivizzani, the principal investigator and a professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation in the UF College of Medicine.
About 27 million Americans age 25 and older have osteoarthritis, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The human body is capable of making proteins to slow the inflammatory processes, but in an osteoarthritis patient the proteins break down too quickly to stop the degeneration.
UF researchers are taking these genes that block the disease and delivering them into the cells at high levels, Ghivizzani said.
Ghivizzani is working with the UF College of Veterinary Medicine to develop this gene therapy in horses. The therapy will deliver genetic material and produce a therapeutic protein at the site of the disease.
Horses' joints are mechanically similar to human joints, said Patrick Colahan, a board-certified equine surgeon in the UF College of Veterinary Medicine and co-investigator of the study.
"Horses have a very big problem with osteoarthritis," Colahan said. "They are the most athletic of the domestic animals."
Rachael Watson, the study's postdoctoral associate, deals with the project's daily operations. Watson makes the virus and evaluates how well the therapeutic protein works in the horses.
"The results have been promising so far," she said.
