Researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) have developed a new generation of bioactive scaffolds that has shown to be capable of enhancing bone regeneration in laboratory settings. The new scaffolds were found to be able to increase stem cells’ bone repair capacity through the delivery of microRNA (micro-ribonucleic acids) molecules.

The delivery technology was developed from a combination of combination of nanoparticles and a collagen-based scaffold biomaterial, both designed for bone repair by the RCSI’s Tissue Engineering Research Group. The technology allows for delivery of a microRNA regulator, which increases a key regulator of bone regeneration.

Professor Fergal O’Brien, professor of bioengineering & regenerative medicine at RCSI and principal investigator on the project said: “While we are very excited by the enhanced capacity for bone repair that was demonstrated in this study, the platform biomaterials have potential for the regeneration of other degenerated or diseased tissues in the body as they can be tailored to deliver individual microRNA therapeutics.”

The possibilities of microRNAs emerge from their function in RNA silencing (the regulation of gene expression by RNAs that do not produce proteins) and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression (the control of gene expression at the RNA level, between the transcription and translation of genes).

The delivery technology developed by the RCSI team has the potential to now act as a platform for the delivery of other distinct microRNAs that can be used in a multitude of therapeutic applications, well beyond bone.

Additionally, the technology could be used as a system for disease modelling and drug discovery, as well as drug transport and function studies.

The findings have so far shown enhanced capacity for bone formation by human stem cells in vitro. The possibilities, if we stretch them to include the other microRNAs that may be deliverable, seem to lead us closer to a near complete overhaul of how we currently approach aspects of healthcare.

While for now we are limited to accepting the degradation of cells and treating it only through regulation or replacement, this study may lead us to the ability to instead focus on regeneration.

Undoubtedly there will be complications in the furthering development of the technology, particularly given the complexity of other tissues as compared to bone, but the study stands as further proof of regenerative technologies becoming a healthcare standard in the near future.

If said technologies do indeed become standard, they may be able to drastically increase the average quality of life, with degenerative issues becoming easily countered. A further advantage of the method is that the healing is essentially natural; the technology acts as a boost to the body’s systems, rather than a replacement for them.

As of now, Professor O’Brien has received a ‘Proof of Concept’ grant from the European Research Council, to utilise the platform to focus on cartilage repair specifically. With the rapid advance of the science, however, it may not be long before we see many other tissues treatable.