Osteochondral tissue repair in osteoarthritic joints: clinical challenges and opportunities in tissue engineering

Osteoarthritis (OA), identified as one of the priorities for the Bone and Joint Decade, is one of the most prevalent joint diseases, which causes pain and disability of joints in the adult population. Secondary OA usually stems from repetitive overloading to the osteochondral (OC) unit, which could result in cartilage damage and changes in the subchondral bone, leading to mechanical instability of the joint and loss of joint function. Tissue engineering approaches have emerged for the repair of cartilage defects and damages to the subchondral bone in the early stages of OA and have shown potential in restoring the joint’s function. In this approach, the use of three-dimensional scaffolds (with or without cells) provides support for tissue growth. Commercially available OC scaffolds have been studied in OA patients for repair and regeneration of OC defects. However, none of these scaffolds has shown satisfactory clinical results. This article reviews the OC tissue structure and the design, manufacturing and performance of current OC scaffolds in treatment of OA. The findings demonstrate the importance of biological and biomechanical fixations of OC scaffolds to the host tissue in achieving an improved cartilage fill and a hyaline-like tissue formation. Achieving a strong and stable subchondral bone support that helps the regeneration of overlying cartilage seems to be still a grand challenge for the early treatment of OA.