# Immunomodulation of juvenile femoral head osteonecrosis > **NIH NIH R01** · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $589,620 ## Abstract Project Summary Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease is a childhood ischemic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) that affects 1 in 1200 children between the ages of 2 to 14. It is one of the most serious conditions affecting the pediatric hip as 50% of patients will develop debilitating osteoarthritis, some in their teenage years. A disruption of blood flow produces extensive ischemic cell death, abundance of necrotic cell debris, and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) in the femoral head. We discovered that the necrotic microenvironment incites a chronic inflammatory response, which impairs bone regeneration and produces femoral head deformity. Macrophages are the central innate immune cells that coordinate the repair process based on local environmental stimuli. In juvenile ONFH, macrophages exhibit chronic inflammatory response due to DAMPs and necrotic debris which leads to further tissue damage and fibrosis. Current treatments do not address the negative pathologic role played by macrophages in the necrotic bone repair. Here, we propose a new concept of reconditioning the necrotic bone using minimally invasive tissue engineering methods, thereby, converting a necrotic inflammatory microenvironment to a regenerative microenvironment. Our long-term goal is to establish these treatment methods to overcome the substantial inflammatory roadblock and to rapidly recondition the necrotic bone in order to jump start bone regeneration in patients with juvenile ONFH. Our central hypothesis is that the necrotic bone microenvironment triggers chronic inflammatory macrophage response, and that tissue engineering of the necrotic environment by local bone wash (i.e. clearance of DAMPs and necrotic debris) and application of macrophage-directional modulators (such as bone morphogenetic protein-2 and interleukin-4) will increase pro- healing macrophages and accelerate bone regeneration. We will attain our goal through three highly related but independent specific aims. We will 1) determine the therapeutic effects of washing out DAMPs and necrotic cell debris on macrophage response; 2) determine the effects of macrophage response to local controlled-release bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) therapy using a hydrogel delivery system on bone regeneration; and 3) determine the role of interleukin 4-induced macrophage modulation on bone regeneration, using the piglet model of ischemic ONFH and in vitro experiments in each Aim. We will determine the macrophage and bone repair responses to the immunomodulatory therapies using tissue, cell, and RNA analytic methods. Successful completion of this project will have immediate clinical impact by providing a proof-of-concept for the minimally invasive, yet potentially highly effective, tissue engineering strategies to overcome current barriers to successful treatment of ONFH. The outcome of this work will lay the groundwork for clinical trials and will greatly advance our ability to treat ONFH using immunomodulatory... ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10439858 - **Project number:** 5R01AR078311-02 - **Recipient organization:** UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER - **Principal Investigator:** HARRY K.W. KIM - **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** NIH - **Fiscal year:** 2022 - **Award amount:** $589,620 - **Award type:** 5 - **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2026-03-31 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10439858 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10439858, Immunomodulation of juvenile femoral head osteonecrosis (5R01AR078311-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10439858. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*