# Localization of adenosine to promote fracture healing

> **NIH NIH R01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $515,185

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Bone fracture is a very common injury, and there has been a dramatic increase in trauma-induced fractures with
the increase in active lifestyle. Despite the regenerative ability of bone, bone injuries often suffer from delayed
healing or non-unions. The prevalence of bone fracture and the cost of repair is on the rise primarily due to aging
of the population. The profound negative impact on the patient’s quality of life and the economic burden of
fracture treatment following trauma or age-related fragility fractures warrants the development of efficient and
cost-effective fracture-healing adjuvants to accelerate the healing rate and improve the quality of healing. The
proposed research focuses on biomaterial-assisted local delivery of adenosine to promote bone healing of aged
bone tissues by rejuvenating the endogenous tissue environment and reparative cells. We hypothesize that local
delivery of adenosine at the injury site will induce a pro-regenerative immune environment and promote
regeneration of aging bone tissues through enhanced osteoblastogenesis and angiogenesis. These hypotheses
will be tested through the following aims. Aim 1 will determine the effect of local delivery of adenosine to promote
bone regeneration in aged mice by using two injury models: transverse tibial fracture and critical-sized segmental
femoral defect. Aim 2 will determine the role of adenosine delivery on immunomodulation leading to enhanced
bone regeneration. Successful completion of the proposed studies will have a significant impact in public health
by establishing a new therapeutic intervention for promoting bone regeneration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10838527
- **Project number:** 5R01AG074491-03
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Shyni Varghese
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $515,185
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-15 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10838527

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10838527, Localization of adenosine to promote fracture healing (5R01AG074491-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10838527. Licensed CC0.

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