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Mancini FE, Humphreys PEA, Woods S, Bates N, Cuvertino S, O'Flaherty J, Biant L, Domingos MAN, Kimber SJ. Effect of a retinoic acid analogue on BMP-driven pluripotent stem cell chondrogenesis. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2696. [PMID: 38302538 PMCID: PMC10834951 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52362-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint condition, leading to articular cartilage (AC) degradation, chronic pain and immobility. The lack of appropriate therapies that provide tissue restoration combined with the limited lifespan of joint-replacement implants indicate the need for alternative AC regeneration strategies. Differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into AC progenitors may provide a long-term regenerative solution but is still limited due to the continued reliance upon growth factors to recapitulate developmental signalling processes. Recently, TTNPB, a small molecule activator of retinoic acid receptors (RARs), has been shown to be sufficient to guide mesodermal specification and early chondrogenesis of hPSCs. Here, we modified our previous differentiation protocol, by supplementing cells with TTNPB and administering BMP2 at specific times to enhance early development (referred to as the RAPID-E protocol). Transcriptomic analyses indicated that activation of RAR signalling significantly upregulated genes related to limb and embryonic skeletal development in the early stages of the protocol and upregulated genes related to AC development in later stages. Chondroprogenitors obtained from RAPID-E could generate cartilaginous pellets that expressed AC-related matrix proteins such as Lubricin, Aggrecan, and Collagen II, but additionally expressed Collagen X, indicative of hypertrophy. This protocol could lay the foundations for cell therapy strategies for osteoarthritis and improve the understanding of AC development in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrizio E Mancini
- Division of Cell Matrix and Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
- Department of Solids and Structures, School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Paul E A Humphreys
- Division of Cell Matrix and Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Steven Woods
- Division of Cell Matrix and Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Nicola Bates
- Division of Cell Matrix and Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Sara Cuvertino
- Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Julieta O'Flaherty
- Division of Cell Matrix and Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Leela Biant
- Division of Cell Matrix and Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Marco A N Domingos
- Department of Solids and Structures, School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Susan J Kimber
- Division of Cell Matrix and Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK.
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Suzdaltseva Y, Kiselev SL. Mesodermal Derivatives of Pluripotent Stem Cells Route to Scarless Healing. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:11945. [PMID: 37569321 PMCID: PMC10418846 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241511945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Revised: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Scar formation during normal tissue regeneration in adults may result in noticeable cosmetic and functional defects and have a significant impact on the quality of life. In contrast, fetal tissues in the mid-gestation period are known to be capable of complete regeneration with the restitution of the initial architecture, organization, and functional activity. Successful treatments that are targeted to minimize scarring can be realized by understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of fetal wound regeneration. However, such experiments are limited by the inaccessibility of fetal material for comparable studies. For this reason, the molecular mechanisms of fetal regeneration remain unknown. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are central to tissue repair because the molecules they secrete are involved in the regulation of inflammation, angiogenesis, and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. The mesodermal differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) recapitulates the sequential steps of embryogenesis in vitro and provides the opportunity to generate the isogenic cell models of MSCs corresponding to different stages of human development. Further investigation of the functional activity of cells from stromal differon in a pro-inflammatory microenvironment will procure the molecular tools to better understand the fundamental mechanisms of fetal tissue regeneration. Herein, we review recent advances in the generation of clonal precursors of primitive mesoderm cells and MSCs from hPSCs and discuss critical factors that determine the functional activity of MSCs-like cells in a pro-inflammatory microenvironment in order to identify therapeutic targets for minimizing scarring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulia Suzdaltseva
- Department of Epigenetics, Vavilov Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333 Moscow, Russia;
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