Bone is a composite material that is composed of impure hydroxyapatite, collagen and a variety of non-collagenous proteins, as well as embedded and adherent cells. Due to disease, a congenital defect or an accident, a person may lose or be missing part or all of one or more bones or regions of cartilage in his or her body, and/or have improper growth or formation of bone and/or cartilage.
Mammalian bone tissue is known to contain one or more proteinaceous materials that are active during growth and natural bone healing. These materials can induce a developmental cascade of cellular events that result in bone formation. Typically, the developmental cascade of bone formation involves chemotaxis of mesenchymal cells, proliferation of progenitor cells, differentiation of cartilage, vascular invasion, bone formation, remodeling and marrow differentiation.
When bone is damaged, often bone grafting procedures are performed to repair the damaged bone especially in cases where the damage is complex, poses a significant risk to the patient, and/or fails to heal properly. Bone grafting is also used to help fusion between vertebrae, correct deformities, or provide structural support for fractures of the spine. In addition to fracture repair, bone grafting is also used to repair defects in bone caused by birth defects, traumatic injury, or surgery for bone cancer.
There are at least three ways in which a bone graft can help repair a defect. The first is called osteogenesis, the formation of new bone within the graft. The second is osteoinduction, a process in which molecules contained within the graft (e.g., bone morphogenic proteins) convert the patient's cells into cells that are capable of forming bone. The third is osteoconduction, a physical effect by which a medical device (e.g., matrix) often containing graft material acts as a scaffold on which bone and cells in the recipient are able to form new bone.
The source of bone for grafting can be obtained from bones in the patient's own body (e.g., hip, skull, ribs, etc.), called autograft, or from bone taken from other people that is frozen and stored in tissue banks, called allograft. The source of bone may also be derived from animals of a different species called a xenograft.
Some grafting procedures utilize a variety of natural and synthetic medical devices (e.g., matrices, depots, etc.) with or instead of bone (e.g., collagen, synthetic biodegradable depots, acrylics, hydroxyapatite, calcium sulfate, ceramics, etc.). To place the medical device at the bone defect, the surgeon makes an incision in the skin over the bone defect and places the matrix at, near, or into the defect.
As persons of ordinary skill are aware, growth factors (e.g., bone morphogenic protein-2) may be placed on the medical device in order to spur the patient's body to begin the formation of new bone and/or cartilage. These growth factors act much like a catalyst, encouraging the necessary cells (including, but not limited to, mesenchymal stem cells, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts) to more rapidly migrate into the medical device, which is eventually resorbed via a cell-mediated process and newly formed bone is deposited at or near the bone defect. In this manner severe fractures may be healed, and vertebrae successfully fused. Unfortunately, many growth factors tend to be very expensive and increase the cost of bone repair.
One class of molecules known to the medical profession are statins. Statins are a family of molecules sharing the capacity to competitively inhibit the hepatic enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase. This enzyme catalyses the rate-limiting step in the L-mevalonate pathway for cholesterol synthesis. Oral statin use blocks cholesterol synthesis and is effective in treating hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia and arteriosclerosis. In recent years, oral statins have been shown to reduce cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality in patients with and without coronary disease.
To date, locally delivered medical devices containing statins have not been appreciated as providing a stable microenvironment that facilitates bone growth, particularly when used in bone defects, fractures and/or voids. Thus, there is a need to develop new medical devices that improve repair of bone defect, voids and/or fractures.