Targeted and Responsive Biomaterials for Osteoarthritis Therapy

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease characterized by loss of articular cartilage and chronic inflammation, involving multiple cellular dysfunctions and tissue lesions. The non-vascular environment and dense cartilage matrix in the joints tend to block drug penetration, resulting in low drug bioavailability. There is a desire to develop safer and more effective OA therapies to meet the challenges of an aging world population in the future. Biomaterials have achieved satisfactory results in improving drug targeting, prolonging the duration of action, and achieving precision therapy. This article reviews the current basic understanding of the pathological mechanisms and clinical treatment dilemmas of OA, summarizes and discusses the advances for different kinds of targeted and responsive biomaterials in OA, seeking to provide new perspectives for the treatment of OA. Subsequently, limitations and challenges in clinical translation and biosafety are analyzed to guide the development of future therapeutic strategies for OA. As the need for precision medicine rises over time, emerging multifunctional biomaterials based on tissue targeting and controlled release will become an irreplaceable part of OA management.

Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC2001500) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (82172098, 32101084).

Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Keywords: Osteoarthritis, Articular cartilage, targeted biomaterial, responsive biomaterial, drug delivery.