Photochemical Passivation of Arthritis-Related Inflammation in a Rat Knee Model

Photochemical Passivation of Arthritis-Related Inflammation in a Rat Knee Model N. Rossi MD1,3, R. Giorgino MD1,3, M. Bejar-Chapa MD2, J.L. Monteiro DDS, PhD1, D.M. Kostyra BS1, G.M. Peretti MD3, M.A. Randolph MAS2, R.W. Redmond PhD1 1Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. 2Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. 3Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. Osteoarthritis is a progressive disorder than often manifests as pain, swelling and joint damage, leading to disability and decreased quality of life. Injuries to the knee from active duty, training or recreational activity can act as an induction point for processes that ultimately lead to osteoarthritis. While the exact disease mechanism of arthritis is not fully understood, it is frequently initiated with an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines in the synovial tissue of the joints, followed by infiltration of the capsule by inflammatory markers. Arthritis is currently managed with medications including NSAIDs, intra-articular infiltration of steroids and hyaluronic acid, lifestyle changes, and surgery, with limited success. There is a pressing clinical need for novel approaches to mitigating the progress of arthritis with inflammation being a natural target for such approaches. Previous research from our group demonstrated that photochemical tissue passivation (PTP) drastically reduces inflammation in a variety of tissues, such as skin, blood vessels and bowel with the working hypothesis that extracellular protein crosslinking prevents inflammatory markers from infiltrating the site of treatment. If PTP is effective in preventing joint damage due to arthritis, patients could be treated in the early stages of disease before extensive joint damage occurs, therefore preventing the pain and disability that are synonymous with arthritis. Th
RITM0041452
Osteoarthritis is a progressive disorder than often manifests as pain, swelling and joint damage, leading to disability and decreased quality of life. Injuries to the knee from active duty, training or recreational activity can act as an induction point for processes that ultimately lead to osteoarthritis. While the exact disease mechanism of arthritis is not fully understood, it is frequently initiated with an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines in the synovial tissue of the joints, followed by infiltration of the capsule by inflammatory markers. Arthritis is currently managed with medications including NSAIDs, intra-articular infiltration of steroids and hyaluronic acid, lifestyle changes, and surgery, with limited success. There is a pressing clinical need for novel approaches to mitigating the progress of arthritis with inflammation being a natural target for such approaches. Previous research from our group demonstrated that photochemical tissue passivation (PTP) drastically reduces inflammation in a variety of tissues, such as skin, blood vessels and bowel with the working hypothesis that extracellular protein crosslinking prevents inflammatory markers from infiltrating the site of treatment. If PTP is effective in preventing joint damage due to arthritis, patients could be treated in the early stages of disease before extensive joint damage occurs, therefore preventing the pain and disability that are synonymous with arthritis. The procedure would allow patients to avoid joint replacement and constant use of antiinflammatory drugs, therefore preventing them from a decreased quality of life associated with the side effects of these treatments.