UF Researchers Discover Osteoarthritis Relief for Patients

An estimated 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from osteoarthritis, a condition that can make it painful to move. Steroids help, but they can have side effects that include weight gain and increased risk of diabetes.

University of Florida biomedical engineers Ben Keselowsky and Greg Hudalla developed a technology to treat osteoarthritis and other diseases called IDO-GATER. IDO is an immune system regulator that converts tryptophan, an amino acid, to metabolites known as kynurenines and GATER is short for Galectin Anchors for Therapeutic Enzyme Retention.

They developed a way to attach the enzyme to a binding protein called galectin-3, which keeps the IDO in place and reduces inflammation only where needed. “It allows us to take a small quantity of drug, inject it into the affected site and have it stay there,” Hudalla says.

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