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REVIEW article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.

Sec. Cell Adhesion and Migration

This article is part of the Research TopicOsteocytes in Bone Health and BeyondView all 6 articles

Cartilage Organoids: An Emerging Platform for Novel Osteoarthritis Therapies

Provisionally accepted
LEI QINLEI QIN1,2*Bimin GaoBimin Gao2Zecai ChenZecai Chen2Yu-Feng LONGYu-Feng LONG2Feng HeFeng He2Donghao GanDonghao Gan3Weihong YiWeihong Yi2Guozhi XiaoGuozhi Xiao4*Jiangdong RenJiangdong Ren2*
  • 1Department of Orthopedics, Shenzhen Nanshan Hospital, Shenzhen, China
  • 2Shenzhen Nanshan People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
  • 3Yale University, New Haven, United States
  • 4Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic, multifactorial joint disorder characterized by the progressive degeneration and dysfunction of various joint tissues. Current treatments primarily focus on symptom management, offering limited success in halting cartilage degradation or repairing damaged tissues. Consequently, there is a pressing need for innovative therapeutic strategies aimed at cartilage regeneration and structural repair. Over the past two decades, cartilage organoids have emerged as a promising alternative for OA treatment. Due to their unique regenerative properties, cartilage organoids provide a versatile platform for various applications in OA research and therapy, including in vitro disease modeling, drug screening, regenerative medicine, and biomechanical studies. This review summarizes current research progress and insights into OA pathogenesis and therapeutic approaches, explores the development of cartilage organoid technologies with a focus on organoid constructions and different methodologies, and discusses the future applications of cartilage organoids as essential in vitro models for drug screening and personalized therapies for OA studies and treatment.

Keywords: Osteoarthritis, cartilage organoids, drug screening, Personalized therapies, In vitro Models

Received: 18 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 QIN, Gao, Chen, LONG, He, Gan, Yi, Xiao and Ren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
LEI QIN
Guozhi Xiao
Jiangdong Ren

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material