Targeting Inflammation and Regeneration: Scaffolds, Extracellular Vesicles, and Nanotechnologies as Cell-Free Dual-Target Therapeutic Strategies

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) affects over 250 million people worldwide and despite various existing treatment strategies still has no cure. It is a multifactorial disease characterized by cartilage loss and low-grade synovial inflammation. Focusing on these two targets together could be the key to developing currently missing disease-modifying OA drugs (DMOADs). This review aims to discuss the latest cell-free techniques applied in cartilage tissue regeneration, since they can provide a more controllable approach to inflammation management than the cell-based ones. Scaffolds, extracellular vesicles, and nanocarriers can be used to suppress inflammation, but they can also act as immunomodulatory agents. This is consistent with the latest tissue engineering paradigm, postulating a moderate, controllable inflammatory reaction to be beneficial for tissue remodeling and successful regeneration.

Keywords

• osteoarthritis
• inflammation
• synovitis
• cell-free tissue engineering
• extracellular vesicles
• matrix-bound nanovesicles