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Hormone therapy could benefit osteoarthritis sufferers

Oestrogen and androgen could have a positive impact on patients suffering from osteoarthritis.

According to a team of researchers from Germany, the hormones may play a part in cartilage regeneration.

The scientists, from the August University in Goettingen, Germany, looked at chondrogenic progenitor cell (CPC) samples from 372 patients who underwent total knee replacement surgery as a result of osteoarthritis.

CPCs are often found in individuals with late-stage osteoarthritis and the researchers noted that those found in patients' synovial fluid had receptors for both oestrogen and androgen.

"Hormone replacement therapy in joint fluid may help mitigate the effects of osteoarthritis and further investigation is needed," Nicolai Miosge, a co-author of the study, wrote in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

"We were able to isolate CPCs in 95.48 per cent of female patients and 96.97 per cent of male patients, making these cells a good target for future therapeutic intervention," she added.

Researchers previously linked the hormone parathyroid to the healing and maintenance of bone.

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