STTR Phase II: Stem Cell Delivery in Microscopic Hydrogel Droplets for Faster and More Complete Healing of Equine Tendon and Ligament Injuries

STTR 第二阶段：以微小水凝胶液滴形式输送干细胞，以更快、更完全地治愈马肌腱和韧带损伤

• 批准号: 2304324
• 负责人: Benjamin Noren
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: CellDrop Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304324&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; II; Stem; Cell

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project involves continued development of technology to extend the therapeutic window of cell-based tissue regeneration therapies. This technology could significantly enhance the scientific understanding of cellular therapies and enable the healing of injuries more rapidly and less invasively than current techniques. A significant need for this technology has been identified in the competition horse market. A significant fraction (98%) of competitive horses suffers from soft tissue injuries and more than 80% of these horses develop a tendon or ligament injury. These injuries can take years to heal and are the leading cause of missed performances— drastically reducing quality of life for the animal and often necessitating euthanasia. This is a significant emotional and financial pain-point for horse owners and veterinarians. The technology being developed offers a solution by providing veterinarians a means of healing tendon and ligament injuries in a faster and more durable manner than currently possible, resulting in fewer missed performances, reduced need for animal euthanasia, and significantly reducing earning losses. Initial implementation of this technology in the equine market is expected to result in the subsequent commercialization of products to improve the healing of orthopedic injuries in humans. This project addresses the slow healing and frequent reinjury of superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injuries in elite equine athletes. A significant fraction (98%) of veterinarians uses stem cell injections to aid in recovery of these injuries, however, this strategy has limited efficacy due to poor viability of injected cells and short cell retention times at the site of injury. This problem is addressed by this technology to preserve and localize mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) at an injury site through delivery in inert, injectable hydrogel microparticles. The research objectives are twofold: 1) examine early healing metrics in an equine model of SDFT injury treated with encapsulated MSCs compared to conventional unencapsulated MSCs, and 2) examine long term healing metrics using the same model. The goal of this research is to provide evidence of two key customer needs: faster tissue healing and more durable tissue regeneration of SDFT injuries. Functional, histological, genetic, and biomechanical metrics will be used to assess experimental outcomes and the results are anticipated to lead directly to a clinical trial in elite equine athletes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项小型企业技术转移（STTR）二期项目的广泛影响包括继续开发技术，以扩大基于细胞的组织再生疗法的治疗窗口。这项技术可以显著提高对细胞疗法的科学理解，使损伤愈合比目前的技术更快，侵入性更小。在竞争马匹市场，对这项技术的需求非常大。相当一部分（98%）的参赛马遭受软组织损伤，其中超过80%的马出现肌腱或韧带损伤。这些伤害可能需要数年才能愈合，并且是错过表演的主要原因-大大降低了动物的生活质量，通常需要安乐死。对于马主和兽医来说，这是一个重大的情感和经济痛点。这项正在开发的技术提供了一种解决方案，为兽医提供了一种比目前更快、更持久的治疗肌腱和韧带损伤的方法，从而减少了错过的表演，减少了对动物安乐死的需求，并大大减少了收入损失。这项技术在马市场的初步实施预计将导致产品的后续商业化，以改善人类骨科损伤的愈合。本项目旨在解决优秀马运动员指浅屈肌腱（SDFT）损伤愈合缓慢和频繁再损伤的问题。相当一部分（98%）的兽医使用干细胞注射来帮助这些损伤的恢复，然而，由于注射的细胞活力差和细胞在损伤部位停留时间短，这种策略的效果有限。该技术通过惰性的、可注射的水凝胶微粒将间充质干细胞（MSCs）保存和定位在损伤部位，解决了这一问题。研究目标有两个：1)与常规未包封的间充质干细胞相比，研究用包封的间充质干细胞治疗的马SDFT损伤模型的早期愈合指标；2)使用同一模型研究长期愈合指标。这项研究的目的是为两个关键的客户需求提供证据：更快的组织愈合和更持久的组织再生的SDFT损伤。功能、组织学、遗传和生物力学指标将用于评估实验结果，预计结果将直接用于精英马运动员的临床试验。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。