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The Cartilage Biology and Orthopaedic Oncology Laboratories are under the direction of Dr. Henry Mankin. The Orthopaedic Oncology Laboratory continues to seek factors that may serve as predictors of metastasis in malignant bone and soft tissue tumors both by molecular and biochemical studies and by flow cytometric analyses of DNA ploidy and cell cycle parameters. The Cartilage Biology Group supports the work of Dr. Mankin and Dr. Christine Towle in exploring the mechanisms leading to cartilage damage in osteoarthritis. The group has an interest both in the factors that promote cartilage repair and in the regulation of the degradative cascade that leads to cartilage destruction and poorly functioning joints. The investigators are studying mechanical effects on IL-1 metabolism in cartilage and the mechanisms involved in TGF beta inhibition of aggrecan catabolism. The laboratory has immense interest in biology-based strategies to interfere with the loss of articular cartilage in osteoarthritis. The laboratories have been funded through NIH Grants, support from the Orthopaedic Research Education Foundation, corporate sponsored research grants, and the generosity of Dr. Mankin's patients.
