[Gene therapy in surgical sport medicine]

The application of gene therapy to sports medicine is in its infancy, but it holds much promise as a novel procedure to improve the clinical management of sports injuries. Gene therapy will be particularly useful in initiating and accelerating the repair of cartilage, meniscus, tendon, and ligament. Several growth factors and other cytokines have been identified as important mediators of a successful healing process. Such molecules have promise as novel agents for the treatment of sports injuries, but there is presently no clinically useful way to deliver them. Gene transfer may be used to serve this purpose. Gene therapy functions as a type of local biological drug delivery system. Recent studies have shown the feasibility of transferring marker genes to synovium, chondrocytes, meniscal fibrochondrocytes, tenocytes and ligamental fibroblasts, prompting optimism about the eventual success of this approach.