"We only need to use a fairly small amount of bone morphogenic protein to serve as a cue to tell the mesenchymal stem cells that they're going to become bone," explained Donna Jones, Ph.D., a researcher at Cincinnati Children's and part of the scientific team that conducted experiments leading to the procedure. "The actual molecular mechanisms BMP-2 uses to do this are not well understood, but once we use BMP-2 to start the process, the body's own biological processes take over and it produces its own BMP-2 to continue the transformation."

Particularly critical to that process is wrapping the donor allograft bone in a thin membrane of tissue that coats bone surfaces called periosteum. The periosteum used in this surgery was taken from the patient's thigh. Periosteum is important to the body's normal production of BMP-2, and just as vital to providing a blood supply to nourish new bone formation.

Drs. Taylor, Jones and their fellow researchers are conducting ongoing studies into growing mandible bones in pigs. In a research paper being prepared for peer-review journal publication, they explain the use of the procedure to grow viable, dense bone in the animals and the duplication of results numerous times. The researchers worked with pigs because the porcine immune system is very similar to that of humans, making the animals a good model for simulating engineered bone growth in people.

Peer-review presentations of results from aspects of the study results have occurred at national re-constructive surgery conferences - including the American Association of Plastic Surgeons and the Plastic Surgery Research Council - and received with great enthusiasm, said Christopher Runyan, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the research team at Cincinnati Children's.

The team also plans additional research projects to test the procedure's ability to engineer bones of different lengths and sizes. Drs. Taylor and Jones said the technology may have the potential to grow almost any bone in the human body. As for Brad, now 15, and his mother, Christine, they're just happy Brad can play sports and participate in other activities without having to worry about a lack of facial bone making him more susceptible to serious eye injury.

"Until we had the CT scans before surgery, we had no idea that Brad was missing the bones that protect his eyes, and that's very dangerous," said Christine. "I was nervous about the procedure, but we're glad we did it and amazed with the results. The people at Cincinnati Children's do a great job of explaining things to you and we have a lot of trust in the doctors and staff."

SOURCE Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center