Tom Nolan’s research reviews—9 November 2023

Stem cells for knee osteoarthritisA randomised control trial in Nature Medicine hypothesised that cell therapies would be more effective than corticosteroid injections for reducing pain from knee osteoarthritis at one year. The researchers looked at three different sources of stem cell injection—from the bone marrow, adipose tissue, and umbilical cord—to see which would be more effective. A total of 480 people aged between 40 and 70 years with knee osteoarthritis were randomised and had their treatment concealed by means of sham cell harvesting procedures. Pain scores were lower after a year in each of the four arms of the study, but none of the cell therapy treatments were any more effective than corticosteroids. Nat Med doi:10.1038/s41591-023-02632-wGender gap in clinical trialsFor those embarking on a career in clinical research, being a principal investigator (PI) of a trial is a big deal. Looking at the gender of PIs is therefore a useful…
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