Equine Osteoarthritis Trial Tests Stem Cell Therapy Injected With Hyaluronic Acid
A prospective clinical study revealed no statistically significant differences in lameness reduction between treatment groups when combining equine umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells with hyaluronic acid for joint disease. Frontiers reported that thirty client-owned horses with naturally occurring fetlock or carpal osteoarthritis completed the randomized, owner-blinded trial, which evaluated intra-articular activated cells alone or paired with hyaluronic acid against hyaluronic acid used by itself. The study tracked thirty horses diagnosed through intra-articular analgesia across baseline measurements and follow-up checks at three and six weeks post-treatment. Animals received either 51 milligrams of hyaluronic acid in a 3-milliliter dose, 10 million activated umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells alone, or 10 million of the activated cells combined with hyaluronic acid. Researchers evaluated joint effusion scores, subjective and objective lameness metrics, and owner-reported return to work to measure efficacy.
Joint Effusion Scores Drop in Cell-Treated Groups
While overall lameness assessments showed no significant variation between the three cohorts, joint effusion scores decreased notably within both groups that received the cell therapy by the sixth week. Frontiers reported that horses treated solely with the activated mesenchymal stromal cells saw effusion drop by an average of 0.75 grades, while the combination group receiving both cells and hyaluronic acid experienced a 0.50-grade reduction. The control group treated with hyaluronic acid alone recorded no statistically significant change in joint fluid swelling during the same timeframe.
Return-to-work rates varied across the cohorts, with eight out of ten horses returning to function in the cell-only group, compared to six out of ten in the combination group and five out of ten in the hyaluronic acid group. Although researchers calculated higher odds of returning to work for horses treated with the cells alone compared to hyaluronic acid, the statistical comparison did not reach significance.
Small Sample Size Limits Statistical Power
Mild post-injection reactions occurred infrequently and appeared at similar rates across all treatment arms, with one out of ten horses reacting in the hyaluronic acid group, two out of ten in the cell-only group, and one out of ten in the combination group. One additional horse was withdrawn from the study entirely after developing septic synovitis, which investigators attributed to contamination of a specific cell batch.
Study authors identified the small sample size as the primary limitation affecting the statistical power of the trial. Despite the lack of definitive between-group differences for lameness, the researchers concluded that the intra-articular administration of activated umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells is clinically feasible and warrants further investigation through larger, adequately powered clinical trials.
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