[Cell transplantation therapy for the treatment of articular cartilage defect]

Articular cartilage destruction is a major problem in rheumatoid arthritis patients. However, there is no treatment that is widely accepted to regeneratively repair the lesion. When the joint cartilage is destructed progressively and activity of daily life is worsened, joint arthroplasty is the most common treatment to relieve joint pain though it has limited survivorship and sometimes severe complications. Recently in order to repair cartilage defect, new method with cell transplantation; autologous cultured chondrocyte transplantation has been put into clinical practice. And we also have reported autologous cultured-expanded bone marrow mesenchymal cell transplantation. These methods have possibility to repair cartilage defect with good quality histologically, biochemically and biomechanically.