Progress in high-throughput screening for drug and material discovery in orthopedic diseases: a literature review

Orthopedic diseases are referred to as a series of conditions affecting the normal structure and function of the skeletal system. With a wide variety of types and a year-by-year increasing incidence, they have a severe impact on patients’ quality of life. Traditional research has made relatively significant progress in understanding the pathogenesis and treating orthopedic diseases, however, it remains constrained by limitations such as low-throughput experimentation, and difficulty in mimicking the complex bone microenvironment. In recent years, high-throughput screening (HTS) technology has been combined with experimental techniques and models (such as microfluidics, omics technologies, 3D bioprinting, artificial intelligence, and organoid models), which can be used to better simulate the real bone microenvironment and predict molecular activity. This combined approach has not only deepened our understanding of the mechanisms of orthopedic diseases, but also broken through the limitations of traditional drug development, which further accelerates drug discovery and clinical translation. This review aims to systematically summarize the research progress and applications of HTS in typical orthopedic diseases, including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, bone defects, and bone tumors, to promote the development and clinical translation of novel therapeutic strategies for orthopedic disorders, and to provide references and guidance for researchers in orthopedic basic research, drug development, regenerative medicine, and clinical orthopedic practice. Accordingly, this review is intended for orthopedic researchers, clinicians and biomaterial scientists focusing on high-throughput screening and orthopedic therapeutic development.