REMEDY-OA

As we get older, it’s almost inevitable to get age-related progressive diseases like osteoarthritis (OA). This is because our cells also get older, and a portion of them are converted into unhealthily aged cells called ‘senescent cells’, which present hostile traits causing chronic inflammation. REMEDY-OA aims to stop OA progression by clearing out senescent cells from affected joints and achieving ‘healthy ageing’ of our knees.

OA is becoming an increasingly common disease. As of 2020, the number of OA patients worldwide is estimated to be 22.9% of the individuals aged ≥40. Our lifetime OA risk is 44.7%, which is more than cancer risk (39.3%). Although OA itself isn’t a lethal disease, it significantly deteriorates the patients’ quality of life by inflicting immobility and pain, which imposes high costs of annual sick leave and results in loss of expected wages on society. Disappointingly, the current OA treatment relies on ‘non-pharmacological therapy’ (e.g., weight loss) and painkillers which can’t stop OA progression, and a costly joint replacement will eventually be required. Consequently, OA is the second most costly health condition in the US. Developing a drug that actively stops OA progression is critical.

Recent studies have shown that senescent cells are responsible for OA progression. Since cellular senescence is largely regulated by an epigenetic mechanism (e.g., levers on the genome to switch-on or -off multiple genes) and involves a large-scale alteration in the expression of multiple genes, it’s been difficult to control them by conventional interventions that can only target a single molecule. Lemba has developed several antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) that can fine-tune epigenetic regulation in various cells. Strikingly, our preliminary study has demonstrated compelling evidence that our ASOs can efficiently suppress the hostile traits of senescent cells.

We propose that our novel therapeutic approach will efficiently stop OA progression, and will improve quality of life