STTR Phase I: Injectable Biotherapeutic for Treatment of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目开发了一种治疗创伤后骨关节炎（PTOA）的注射治疗剂。PTOA是由外部机械力引起的软骨疼痛性疾病。目前PTOA的治疗涉及侵入性外科手术-全关节置换术-这通常与感染有关，可能需要翻修膝关节置换术。对于这些患者，没有改善疾病的骨关节炎药物，也没有非手术治疗。虽然一些药物有助于减轻疼痛，但它们对疾病进展没有影响，并且它们的使用可能会受到潜在严重副作用的极大限制。这种解决方案是减缓PTOA进展的第一种也是唯一的治疗方法，这将防止PTOA患者可能遭受终身的疼痛和费用。因此，客户将可能节省数千美元，获得安心，他们已经采取了唯一的行动，以帮助防止骨关节炎的发展，最重要的是，防止增加疼痛，医疗问题和相关治疗的循环与他们的伤害。这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目将导致一种优化的去免疫治疗，改变创伤后骨关节炎（PTOA）的疾病进展。该解决方案结合了独特的温敏水凝胶载体，能够持续递送治疗性蛋白质，当通过单次注射递送时能够改善疾病，避免全关节置换术中的外科手术。该奖项反映了NSF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。

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project develops an injectable therapeutic to treat post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). PTOA is a painful disease of the cartilage caused by external mechanical force. The current treatment for PTOA involves an invasive surgical procedure - total joint replacement - which is often associated with infections and may need a revision knee replacement. There is no disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug nor a non-surgical cure for these patients. While some drugs help mitigate pain, they have no effect on disease progression, and their use can be limited greatly by their potential severe side effects. This solution serves as the first and only treatment to slow the progression of PTOA, which would prevent PTOA patients from potentially suffering a lifetime of pain and expenses. As a result, customers will potentially save thousands of dollars, acquire peace of mind that they have taken the only action to help prevent the development of osteoarthritis, and most of all, prevent a cycle of increasing pain, medical issues, and associated treatments with their injury. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will lead to an optimized, deimmunized therapeutic that changes the disease progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). The solution combines a unique thermoresponsive hydrogel carrier capable of sustained delivery of a therapeutic protein that enables disease modification when delivered via a single injection, avoiding the surgical procedure in total joint replacement. State-of-the-art computational tools will be employed to improve the properties of the hydrogel and experimentally test the constructs for function.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.