Scientists at Stanford Medicine have discovered a treatment that can reverse cartilage loss in aging joints and even prevent arthritis after knee injuries. By blocking a protein linked to aging, the therapy restored healthy, shock-absorbing cartilage in old mice and injured joints, dramatically improving movement and joint function. Human cartilage samples from knee replacement surgeries also began regenerating when exposed to the treatment.
It’s always so bleak reading about this phase of clinical trials. Orthopaedic surgery is wildly brutal and these patients were 5-10 years away from being able to avoid the lifetime of trauma that comes with it. lt’s a complete roll of the chronological dice whether you’ll be the tissue sample that proves a 100% fatal cancer treatment works or the patient in a phase 3 trial with a 50% survival rate or the patient who gets the little beepboop thing that turns it into an inconvenience.