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AssigneeThe Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
InventorCarl T. Brighton
Estimating the term…
Methods and devices for the regulation of aggrecan gene expression in cartilage cells via the application of fields generated by specific and selective electric and electromagnetic signals in the treatment of diseased or injured articular cartilage. By gene expression is meant the up regulation or down regulation of the process whereby specific portions (genes) of the human genome (DNA) are transcribed into mRNA and subsequently translated into protein. Methods and devices are provided for the targeted treatment of injured or diseased cartilage tissue that include generating specific and selective electric and electromagnetic signals that generate fields optimized for aggrecan gene expression and exposing cartilage tissue to the fields generated by specific and selective signals so as to regulate aggrecan gene expression in such cartilage tissue. The resulting methods and devices are useful for the targeted treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, cartilage injury, and cartilage defects.
A method of specifically and selectively up-regulating the gene expression of aggrecan mRNA in cartilage tissue, comprising the steps of:
A method for treating at least one of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, cartilage injury, and cartilage defects, comprising the steps of:
A device for the treatment of at least one of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, cartilage injury and cartilage defects comprising a signal source that provides at least one signal that creates a field specific and selective for up-regulating gene expression of aggrecan mRNA, and electrodes connected to the signal source that receive said at least one specific and selective signal for application of the field to the cartilage tissue for a predetermined duration at predetermined intervals so as to selectively up-regulate gene expression of aggrecan mRNA in said cartilage tissue.
A method of determining a selective signal that generates an electric field that up-regulates aggrecan, comprising the steps of selecting a starting signal known to increase or suspected to affect cellular production of aggrecan, selectively varying a duration of application of said starting signal until an optimal duration that provides an optimal production of aggrecan is found, varying an amplitude of the starting signal for the optimal duration of time until an optimal production of aggrecan is found, and varying a duty cycle of the signal until an optimal production of aggrecan is found.
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