Funding outcome

There is a clear historical lack of research around aging women's health issues. One example of this is in the study of osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a disease that damages joints and becomes increasingly prevalent with age. Healthy joints are essential to living an active, pain free lifestyle. In particular, knee osteoarthritis is especially debilitating, accounting for 83% of associated costs. Knee osteoarthritis is significantly more common in women and occur 10 years earlier in comparison to men. Insufficient research has been done to determine the cause and improve treatment for aging women suffering from knee osteoarthritis. The poorer outcomes in women may be a result of increased degeneration in a part of the knee tissue called the meniscus. It has been shown that a higher percentage of aging women in comparison to men (70% vs 40% over the age of 70) experience degeneration in the meniscus. This project explores the genetic causes behind the increased meniscus degeneration in women. With the support of NASA, this research group has recently shown improved meniscus growth from stem cells in a weightless environment. In the process, they have identified a gene that when turned off induces improved meniscus growth. Using this weightless growth environment, we propose to compare menisci grown from male and female stem cells from older patients to identify and confirm genes that play a role in improved meniscus health in women. Identifying these genetic causes will allow for improved treatment and research of knee osteoarthritis in aging women. This may include growing improved female menisci from stem cells for surgical replacement, targeted gene therapy, and increasing our understanding of the mechanism underlying knee osteoarthritis in aging women.