The same stem cells that heal broken bones can also generate arthritic bone spurs called osteophytes, according to a new study in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

“Although these stem and progenitor cells promote healthy bone repair in other contexts, they are inappropriately activated to cause a pathological bony protuberance in the context of arthritis,” said Gage Crump, a professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at USC. Crump is the paper’s co-corresponding author, along with Cosimo de Bari from the University of Aberdeen in the UK.

To read more, visit https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/when-it-comes-to-arthritic-bone-spurs-stem-cells-hurt-instead-of-heal.