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In the future, it will be possible to repair damaged bone tissue
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
Specialists from the University of London have made a breakthrough in the field of regenerative medicine, and perhaps implants, which are now widely used, will gradually become a thing of the past. In the future, scientists plan to treat injuries and diseases of the skeleton and bones using a biologically active membrane that will be transplanted into the body to stimulate the growth of its own bone tissue.
Thanks to the work of specialists, previously considered fantastic ideas about replacing diseased organs with new and healthy ones can become a reality. This area is studied by regenerative medicine. The main idea of this branch of medicine is to restore a damaged organ using the body's own reserves.
Regenerative medicine includes cell therapy and tissue engineering.
Cell therapy involves replacing damaged human tissue cells with new ones ( transplantation of stem cells into the body, which should replace damaged cells).
Tissue engineering is the next step in which specialists will be able to replace tissues or entire organs.
Recently, experts from Queen Mary University of London have managed to move one step further in the field of replacing entire tissue. Biological engineers have been able to construct a membrane that includes a certain type of protein that, when transplanted into the body, triggers a mechanism for bone tissue regeneration. At this stage, the scientists have only conducted research on laboratory rats, but if the development of the method continues, this research project could help hundreds of patients suffering from brittle bones and other diseases that disrupt the density and structure of bone tissue.
To create a bioactive membrane, a group of researchers used segments of various proteins. As a result, scientists were able to find out which protein is responsible for launching the recovery mechanism in the body and regenerating bone tissue.
When working with rats, the specialists were able to see that the protein statherin stimulates the process of formation of new bone tissue. As one of the authors of the research project, Esther Tejeda-Montes, noted, the advantage of such a membrane is that it is biologically active and easily placed in injured parts of the bone.
The scientists' work, in their opinion, will allow them to develop a synthetic transplant that can be customized in such a way as to trigger a natural recovery process that cannot be achieved in most synthetic analogues.
The recovery is stimulated by a special segment of the protein statherin, which prevents the crystallization of minerals, including the formation of calcium phosphate sediment in saliva. This segment is also present in tooth enamel. Co-author of the research project Alvaro Mata notes that the study is truly amazing, on the one hand, and inspiring, on the other, since scientists have managed to find a molecule that activates the formation of new bone tissue in the body.
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