Tissue Growth and Repair CRC backs a winner

Shooting the nag for not winning could be a thing of the past thanks to the CRC for Tissue Growth and Repair’s work on IGF-I (insulin-like growth factor-I) to stimulate tissue repair.

“Tendon injuries are a major risk for horses, especially racehorses,” commented Dr Ross Tietzel, a Flemington veterinarian who trialled the new IGF-I therapy on injured horses. The new treatment promotes tendon healing with less scarring, which greatly improves the quality of the healing and increases the chances of the horse returning successfully to racing.

“About 1 to 2% of the racehorses I see have tendon problems. Existing treatments can be complex, expensive and often don’t work,” noted Tiezel. “And injuries often recur because of extensive scarring and incomplete healing.”

The new treatment is simple to use - just two injections – with no side effects to date, claimed Tiezel.

The therapeutic is being marketed by Adelaide-based animal biotech Primegro Ltd, with Sydney-based Pharm Tech Pty providing distribution. Dr Simon Humphrys, Primegro’s R&D manager, said IGFI worked by stimulating the cells within the injured tendon to produce type I collagen as early as possible in the repair phase, rather than the more usual type III scar tissue collagen.

“Type I collagen is much stronger and structurally better designed to cope with the stresses of rehabilitation than type III collagen. It’s like the scars around a cut, which are much weaker and less flexible early in repair compared to the same wound weeks later,” said Dr Humphrys.

CRC director professor Leanna Read said the treatment was another success story for the CRC for Tissue Growth and Repair. “The original IGF-I discovery and the work of the CRC have led to three start-up companies and a host of products. This is a fitting conclusion to the work of the CRC which has itself evolved into a commercial business - TGR BioSciences Pty Ltd,” she said.

Tendotrophin

Bowed tendons (superficial digital flexor tendon injury) are generally difficult to treat and slow to heal. The chances of reoccurrence are high and this often reduces the ability of the horse to achieve pre-injury performance.

The superficial digital flexor tendon is located between the knee and pastern of the horse and is made up of special protein fibres called type I collagen. These fibres are elastic to some extent, however they will tear if over-stretched resulting in a bowed appearance. Associated bleeding within the tendon causes swelling and serious pain.