Tendon injuries commonly affect athletic horses and are a major welfare concern. However, as yet there are no treatments for such injuries, which require prolonged rehabilitation and carry a high risk of recurrence. Injured tendons are highly inflamed, and the failure to adequately resolve inflammation drives scar tissue formation, compromising normal tendon function and increasing the risk of re-injury.
Stephanie Dakin, Professor of Musculoskeletal Sciences at NDORMS, who spent over a decade practicing as an equine vet before moving to NDORMS explains how her research in human tendon injury can be translated to similar injuries in horses. ‘Horses and humans experience remarkably similar tendon injuries. Like humans, these injuries in horses are debilitating, frustratingly slow to heal and frequently recur with ageing. Our work studying human tendon injuries has shown that distinct populations of fibroblasts within injured tendons can drive ongoing inflammation and scar tissue formation, which can prevent effective healing. We also discovered that some fibroblasts mount protective responses to inflammation after injury; however, this process goes awry with chronic injury and becomes less effective with ageing.
‘I am truly excited to explore whether the same mechanisms are at work in horses and for the opportunity to work with the funders and our team of co-investigators at the Royal Veterinary College and Queen Mary University London. This project makes new strides towards a One Medicine approach in our quest to develop novel therapeutic approaches to treat common and debilitating tendon injuries affecting both horses and humans.’