Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-6 Alters Skeletal Muscle Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Stem cell-based strategies for skeletal muscle tissue engineering

Skeletal muscle tissue engineering has been a key area of focus over the years and has been of interest for developing regenerative strategies for injured or degenerative skeletal muscle tissue. Stem cells have gained increased attention as sources for developing skeletal muscle tissue for subsequent studies or potential treatments. Focus has been placed on understanding the molecular pathways that govern skeletal muscle formation in development to advance differentiation of stem cells towards skeletal muscle fates in vitro. Use of growth factors and transcription factors have long been the method for guiding skeletal muscle differentiation in vitro. However, further research in small molecule induced differentiation offers a xeno-free option that could result from use of animal derived factors.

Integrative Single-Cell RNA-Seq and ATAC-Seq Analysis of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells Derived from Human Placenta

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells derived from placenta (PMSCs) are an attractive source for regenerative medicine because of their multidifferentiation potential and immunomodulatory capabilities. However, the cellular and molecular heterogeneity of PMSCs has not been fully characterized. Here, we applied single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (scATAC-seq) techniques to cultured PMSCs from human full-term placenta. Based on the inferred characteristics of cell clusters, we identify several distinct subsets of PMSCs with specific characteristics, including immunomodulatory-potential and highly proliferative cell states. Furthermore, integrative analysis of gene expression and chromatin accessibility showed a clearer chromatin accessibility signature than those at the transcriptional level on immunomodulatory-related genes. Cell cycle gene-related heterogeneity can be more easily distinguished at the transcriptional than the chromatin accessibility level in PMSCs. We further reveal putative subset-specific cis-regulatory elements regulating the expression of immunomodulatory- and proliferation-related genes in the immunomodulatory-potential and proliferative subpopulations, respectively. Moreover, we infer a novel transcription factor PRDM1, which might play a crucial role in maintaining immunomodulatory capability by activating PRDM1-regulon loop. Collectively, our study first provides a comprehensive and integrative view of the transcriptomic and epigenomic features of PMSCs, which paves the way for a deeper understanding of cellular heterogeneity and offers fundamental biological insight of PMSC subset-based cell therapy.

Lack of a skeletal muscle phenotype in adult human bone marrow stromal cells following xenogeneic-free expansion

Background

Many studies have elegantly shown that murine and rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (bmMSCs) contribute to muscle regeneration and improve muscle function. Yet, the ability of transplanted human bmMSCs to manifest myogenic potential shows conflicting results. While human adipose- and umbilical cord-derived MSCs can be differentiated into a skeletal muscle phenotype using horse serum (HS), bmMSCs have only been shown to differentiate towards the skeletal muscle lineage using a complex mixture of cytokines followed by transfection with notch intracellular domain.

Methods

Since xenogeneic-free growth supplements are increasingly being used in the expansion of bmMSCs in clinical trials, we investigated the effects of human plasma and platelet lysate (P/PL) on the expression of neuromuscular markers and whether P/PL-expanded human bmMSCs could be differentiated towards a skeletal myogenic phenotype. Neuromuscular markers were measured using the highly sensitive droplet digital polymerase chain reaction for measuring the expression of Myf5, MyoD, MyoG, ACTA1, Desmin, GAP-43, and Coronin 1b transcripts, by performing immunofluorescence for the expression of Desmin, GAP-43, and MEF2, and flow cytometry for the expression of CD56/neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM).

Results

Despite that bmMSCs expressed the myogenic regulatory factor (MRF) MEF2 after expansion in P/PL, bmMSCs cultured under such conditions did not express other essential MRFs including Myf5, MyoD, MyoG, or ACTA1 needed for myogenesis. Moreover, HS did not induce myogenesis of bmMSCs and hence did not induce the expression of any of these myogenic markers. P/PL, however, did lead to a significant increase in neurogenic GAP-43, as well as Desmin expression, and resulted in a high baseline expression of the neurogenic gene Coronin 1b which was sustained under further P/PL or HS culture conditions. Fetal bovine serum resulted in equally high levels of GAP-43 and Coronin 1b. Moreover, the proportion of CD56/NCAM-positive bmMSCs cultured in P/PL was 5.9 ± 2.1.

Conclusions

These data suggest that P/PL may prime a small portion of bmMSCs towards an early neural precursor cell type. Collectively, this shows that P/PL partially primes the cells towards a neurogenic phenotype, but does not prime adult human bmMSCs towards the skeletal muscle lineage.

Circulating Biomarkers of Testosterone's Anabolic Effects on Fat-Free Mass

BACKGROUND

Biomarkers that predict response to anabolic therapies could expedite the development of function promoting anabolic drugs. This study aimed to identify serum biomarkers that are responsive to testosterone administration and associated with increases in fat-free mass (FFM).

METHODS

Serum samples were obtained from the 5α-Reductase Trial, a randomized trial that compared the effects of graded doses of testosterone enanthate for 20-weeks in healthy men randomized to placebo or dutasteride (dual SRD5A inhibitor). Testosterone's effects on FFM or strength measures did not differ between placebo vs dutasteride groups. Accordingly, 54 subjects treated with testosterone plus placebo were included in the Discovery Cohort, and 48 randomized to dutasteride were included in the Validation Cohort. 1162 biomarkers were evaluated using pre-specified criteria.

RESULTS

In the Discovery Cohort, testosterone administration increased PRO-C3 and PRO-C6 levels in a dose- and concentration-dependent manner; increases in these biomarkers from baseline to week-12 were associated with changes in FFM from baseline to week-20 (PRO-C3: r2=0.437, p<0.001; PRO-C6: r2=0.434, p<0.001). Changes in PRO-C3 and PRO-C6 levels were significantly associated with changes in chest press strength (PRO-C3: r2=0.394, p<0.001; PRO-C6: r2=0.530, p<0.001). In the SOMAscan, changes in insulin-like growth factor binding protein-6 (IGFBP6) and Glypican 3 (GPC3) were associated with changes in total and free testosterone levels and FFM. These findings were replicated in the Validation Cohort.

CONCLUSION

PRO-C3, PRO-C6, IGFBP6 and GPC3 fulfilled the pre-specified criteria for biomarkers of testosterone-induced muscle anabolism: changes in these biomarkers were associated with changes in total and free testosterone concentrations and with testosterone-induced gains in FFM.

Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-6 Promotes the Differentiation of Placental Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Skeletal Muscle Independent of Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptor-1 and Insulin Receptor

As mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being investigated for regenerative therapies to be used in the clinic, delineating the roles of the IGF system in MSC growth and differentiation, in vitro, is vital in developing these cellular therapies to treat degenerative diseases. Muscle differentiation is a multistep process, starting with commitment to the muscle lineage and ending with the formation of multinucleated fibers. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-6 (IGFBP-6), relative to other IGFBPs, has high affinity for IGF-2. However, the role of IGFBP-6 in muscle development has not been clearly defined. Our previous studies showed that in vitro extracellular IGFBP-6 increased myogenesis in early stages and could enhance the muscle differentiation process in the absence of IGF-2. In this study, we identified the signal transduction mechanisms of IGFBP-6 on muscle differentiation by placental mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs). We showed that muscle differentiation required activation of both AKT and MAPK pathways. Interestingly, we demonstrated that IGFBP-6 could compensate for IGF-2 loss and help enhance the muscle differentiation process by triggering predominantly the MAPK pathway independent of activating either IGF-1R or the insulin receptor (IR). These findings indicate the complex interactions between IGFBP-6 and IGFs in PMSC differentiation into the skeletal muscle and that the IGF signaling axis, specifically involving IGFBP-6, is important in muscle differentiation. Moreover, although the major role of IGFBP-6 is IGF-2 inhibition, it is not necessarily the case that IGFBP-6 is the main modulator of IGF-2.

Genome-Wide Chromatin Structure Changes During Adipogenesis and Myogenesis

The recently developed high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) technology enables us to explore the spatial architecture of genomes, which is increasingly considered an important regulator of gene expression. To investigate the changes in three-dimensional (3D) chromatin structure and its mediated gene expression during adipogenesis and myogenesis, we comprehensively mapped 3D chromatin organization for four cell types (3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes, 3T3-L1-D adipocytes, C2C12 myoblasts, and C2C12-D myotubes). We demonstrate that the dynamic spatial genome architecture affected gene expression during cell differentiation. A considerable proportion (~22%) of the mouse genome underwent compartment A/B rearrangement during adipogenic and myogenic differentiation, and most (~80%) upregulated marker genes exhibited an active chromatin state with B to A switch or stable A compartment. More than half (65.4%-73.2%) of the topologically associating domains (TADs) are dynamic. The newly formed TAD and intensified local interactions in the Fabp gene cluster indicated more precise structural regulation of the expression of pro-differentiation genes during adipogenesis. About half (32.39%-59.04%) of the differential chromatin interactions (DCIs) during differentiation are promoter interactions, although these DCIs only account for a small proportion of genome-wide interactions (~9.67% in adipogenesis and ~4.24% in myogenesis). These differential promoter interactions were enriched with promoter-enhancer interactions (PEIs), which were mediated by typical adipogenic and myogenic transcription factors. Differential promoter interactions also included more differentially expressed genes than nonpromoter interactions. Our results provide a global view of dynamic chromatin interactions during adipogenesis and myogenesis and are a resource for studying long-range chromatin interactions mediating the expression of pro-differentiation genes.

Different Effects of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-2 on Myogenic Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are critical components of the stem cell niche, as they regulate proliferation and differentiation of stem cells into different lineages, including skeletal muscle. We have previously reported that insulin-like growth factor binding protein-6 (IGFBP-6), which has high affinity for IGF-2, alters the differentiation process of placental mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs) into skeletal muscle. In this study, we determined the roles of IGF-1 and IGF-2 and their interactions with IGFBP-6. We showed that IGF-1 increased IGFBP-6 levels within 24 hours but decreased after 3 days, while IGF-2 maintained higher levels of IGFBP-6 throughout myogenesis. IGF-1 increased IGFBP-6 in the early phase as a requirement for muscle commitment. In contrast, IGF-2 enhanced muscle differentiation as shown by the expression of muscle differentiation markers MyoD, MyoG, and MHC. IGF-1 and IGF-2 had different effects on muscle differentiation with IGF-1 promoting early commitment to muscle and IGF-2 promoting complete muscle differentiation. We also showed that PMSCs acquired increasing capacity to synthesize IGF-2 during muscle differentiation, and the capacity increased as the differentiation progressed suggesting an autocrine and/or paracrine effect. Additionally, we demonstrated that IGFBP-6 could enhance the muscle differentiation process in the absence of IGF-2.