Hormone Replacement May Regenerate Tissue in Osteoarthritis Patients

Arthritis & Rheumatism.

German researchers performed a study that examined the effects of adding concentrations of sex hormones in men and women and discovered that it may have a positive effect on the regenerative potential of cartilage tissue. The results of the study were published in

The study was designed to determine whether the regenerative potential of chondrogenic progenitor cells (CPCs) in the arthritic tissue during late stages of human OA might also be subject to sex-specific differences and influenced by sex steroids.

Tissue samples from 372 patients with late-stage knee osteoarthritis who underwent total-knee replacement were analyzed. The mean age for men was 71 and for women 72.

Researchers found that 17β-estradiol, which increases calcium deposition, was present in the joint fluid of study participants. Additionally, CPCs positive for estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ) and androgen receptors were also present in OA tissue. Both sex hormones, Estrogen and Testosterone, influenced the expression of the three receptor genes and the CPCs by regulating gene expression.

Hormone replacement therapy in joint fluid may help mitigate the effects of OA, but further investigation is needed.

Hormone replacement in the joint fluid of men and women may help regenerate damaged tissue in patients with late stage human osteoarthritis.