Due to poor diagnosis and treatment, back pain presents one of major health issues in developed world. There is no clear diagnosis in 85% of spinal problems and there is no clinical consensus between different countries or doctors on treatment.
As well as affecting the quality of life of sufferers and their families, Back Pain creates a tremendous economic burden on society. This is now being recognised by the European Commission which is funding a five year research project called Genodisc aiming to develop better diagnostic tools and to improve the type and speed of treatment offered to patients suffering from low back pain. This will help to prevent those with acute back pain becoming chronically disabled.
The researchers include surgeons and other clinicians as well as research scientists specialising in genetics, cell physiology, regenerative medicine, engineering and computational analysis. The research will be led by a group from Oxford University but carried out in 9 countries including the UK, Israel, Germany, Finland, Greece, The Netherlands, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia. Educell, a Slovenian biotechnology company and a Tissue establishment, has also been invited by dr. Jill Urban from Oxford University - coordinator of Genodisc, to participate in the project. Research in Educell is led by dr. Nevenka Kregar Velikonja and dr. Mirjam Fröhlich and focuses on one of novel potential repair treatments, which is development of tissue engineering approach aiming for functional and long lasting replacement of the removed damaged nucleus pulposus tissue. Genodisc recruits thousands of patients into the study as large numbers are required to determine any genetic link to complex disorders like back pain.
Figure 1: Normal (A) and degenerated (B) intervertebral disc. Source: http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/genodisc/index.html
Figure 2: Production of glycosaminoglycan rich extracellular matrix – Capability of cells to produce glycosaminoglycan rich extracellular matrix (indicated in blue) – an important component of healthy nucleus pulposus, presents a potential for tissue-engineered approach to treat degenerated intervertebral disc. The production of glycosaminoglycan rich extracellular matrix is a feature specific for intervertebral disc cells and chondrocytes, as well as for adult stem cells derived from bone marrow (A) and adipose tissue (B). Source: M. Fröhlich