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.

这一小型企业技术转让(STTR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响包括继续开发技术，以延长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，并使创伤的愈合比目前的技术更快、更具侵入性。在赛马市场上，已经确定了对这项技术的重大需求。相当一部分(98%)的竞技马匹患有软组织损伤，其中超过80%的马匹出现了肌腱或韧带损伤。这些损伤可能需要数年时间才能痊愈，是错过表演的主要原因--极大地降低了动物的生活质量，并经常需要安乐死。对于马主和兽医来说，这是一个重大的情感和经济痛点。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可能的方式更快、更持久地愈合肌腱和韧带损伤的方法，从而减少了错过表演的次数，减少了动物安乐死的需要，并显著减少了收入损失。这项技术在马匹市场的初步实施预计将导致随后的产品商业化，以改善人类骨科创伤的愈合。本项目旨在解决优秀马术运动员指屈肌腱(SDFT)损伤愈合缓慢、再损伤频繁的问题。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，由于注射细胞的生存能力较差以及细胞在损伤部位的保留时间较短，这一策略的效果有限。这项技术通过将间充质干细胞(MSCs)以惰性、可注射水凝胶微粒的形式输送到损伤部位来保存和定位间充质干细胞(MSCs)，从而解决了这个问题。研究的目标有两个：1)比较微囊化MSCs和传统的非微囊化MSCs治疗SDFT损伤的马模型的早期愈合指标；2)使用相同的模型检查长期愈合指标。这项研究的目的是提供两个关键客户需求的证据：SDFT损伤更快的组织愈合和更持久的组织再生。功能、组织学、遗传学和生物力学指标将用于评估实验结果，结果有望直接导致对优秀马术运动员的临床试验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。