University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have shown that transplanting adult stem cells to broken bones can help to heal fractures in mice.

The researchers took adult stem cells from the bone marrow of mice that had fractured tibia (the long bone of the leg). The cells were engineered to make insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a potent bone regenerator. When the cells were injected into the mice, the stem cells migrated to the fracture. CT scans found that the repaired bone in treated mice was three times stronger than that of untreated controls.

More than 600,000 Americans a year have fractures that fail to heal normally. Current therapies such as multiple surgeries with bone autografts and artificial prosthetic materials often are not enough to cure these patients.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill News Release

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