SP2 - SyMBoD

Non-union and T2DM in human patients

Healing disturbances in fractures of long bones, such as non-union, occur in up to 10% of all fracture cases. Patients suffering from non-union have varying degrees of disability depending on localization and extent of the pathology. In the upper extremity the utilization of the extremity is restricted, even impossible, in the lower extremity patients suffer from varying degrees of immobility. In either case, the patient suffers not only from medical but also from social, psychological and economic impairments. If healing of the non-union cannot be obtained in the long-term, this can result not only in the loss of the ability to work but also in loss of the limb. Patients with Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have a higher risk of impaired fracture healing based on a multitude of factors. Although multiple animal models have identified possible individual contributors to the underlying mechanisms, no full analysis trying to include all cellular and molecular underlying mechanisms in human patients has been performed. A systematic medical approach utilizing patient samples will provide the solution to this problem. The Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has a high level of expertise in treating patients suffering from non-union and patients with some comorbidities, including Type 2 Diabetes mellitus. TP2 will focus on patients’ recruitment, follow-up and collection of samples for downstream deep phenotyping of patients through omics screening and analysis in TP3, which will be later utilized in TP4 and TP5. The central research objective of TP2 will be the establishment of a biobank consisting of human materials (i.e., blood, tissue) for T2DM patients with or without bone defect, within the Core Unit Cell and Tissue Harvesting of the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies within the Berlin Institute of Healths’ Central Biomaterial Bank.This will complement our already established biobank “BioBone”.