Potential Disease-Modifying Drug Combination for Osteoarthritis

Researchers at Stanford have discovered that treatment with JNK II inhibitor and IBMX has a synergistic therapeutic effect against osteoarthritis (OA). They tested the combination on human OA chondrocytes in culture and observed a consistent 60-80% decrease in inflammatory mediators in a small cohort of patients. Ongoing work is validating the drug combination in a mouse model. Currently, there is not a single approved disease-modifying drug on the market for osteoarthritis, a debilitating condition caused by trauma or aging. The researchers profiled healthily and OA cartilage samples using mass cytometry to establish a single-cell atlas, revealing distinct subpopulations that are found consistently across all patients. These include cell populations that amplify or dampen inflammation. They devised a drug combination strategy to inhibit one population and boost the other, thus significantly reducing inflammation in OA chondrocytes.

Stage of Development

Ongoing work is validating this drug combination in a mouse model of osteoarthritis.