Project Details
Description
At any given time, soldiers are called for duty and sent overseas to defend and protect our nation. Many return home with severe combative wounds and injuries including amputations. Within the last decade, from 2001 to 2010, 816 soldiers, who were involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom, had undergone major limb amputation. There were 217 amputations done for Operation Enduring Freedom and 189 from unaffiliated conflicts. In fact, the occurrence of injuries resulting in amputations for wounded soldiers has increased over the years and continues to rise. This is due to greater use of counterinsurgency strategy that requires soldiers to be on foot. Though new advancements in prosthetic devices have been phenomenal, none compare to the mobility and functionality of the original limb.
The ability to grow new tissue, including nerves that have been lost, once believed to be a farfetched idea, is becoming more of a reality as research in tissue engineering continues to advance. Wounded soldiers with severe nerve damage may one day be able to regrow and restore damaged limbs. Regenerative therapy holds the promise of restoring fully functional nerves. The purpose of this research aims to do just that.
At the heart of tissue engineering is the development and design of a scaffold, the biological substitute used as a substrate to seed and facilitate stem cells into differentiated lineage of cells, such as nerves. The purpose of this proposal is to design a novel structured biodegradable graft system with a scaffold that mimics the structure and morphology of natural nerve that could be surgically implanted to augment or replace damaged nerve tissue. The scaffold initially provides a basis on which to grow the cells and slowly degrades as new nerve tissue forms, until it is completely replaced by natural tissue. The graft system is composed of a composite of materials and designs that have been developed in the lab to provide the optimal conditions for cell growth and provide the mechanical stability. Bone marrow stromal cells from the same patient will provide the initial cells to grow on the scaffold, as well as necessary extracellular matrix proteins and growth factors, thereby minimizing the risk of rejection and immune response from the host.
The length of time for the graft system to go from the laboratory to clinical use will be greatly minimized by utilizing materials that have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition, the use of autologous bone marrow stromal cells also does not require FDA approval, thereby speeding up product development from in vivo efficacy research to large animal studies to human clinical trials.
Clinical use of the biodegradable graft system will decrease recovery time for soldiers following severe limb injuries. This equates to a lower demand on rehabilitation services and overall less medical costs for the military. Most importantly, the device will have a profound effect on the lives of injured soldiers, who would otherwise be living with an amputation disability. On a broader scale, the graft system will be able to help those in noncombat-related nerve injuries and can also be used and adapted to other types of tissues by varying the mechanical and structural properties of the scaffold.
There is a great fear of amputations among soldiers in combat, as major limb amputations are the most debilitating combat wounds in modern times. The solution lies in research in the realm of tissue engineering and regenerative therapy. The proposed novel structured biodegradable graft system for the repair and regeneration of nerves, following severe limb injuries, is designed from years of research and collaborations. It is a product of knowledge gained from successful tissue regeneration put forth into a novel design. Successful completion of the system will no doubt contribute immensely to advancing regenerative medicine, but most importantly allow wounded soldiers with nerve injuries, a viable alternative to the dreaded amputation and a chance to lead fully functional lives.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 15/09/13 → 14/09/16 |