Cartilage Regeneration Characteristics of Human and Goat Auricular Chondrocytes

Although cartilage regeneration technology has achieved clinical breakthroughs, whether auricular chondrocytes (AUCs) represent optimal seed cells to achieve stable cartilage regeneration is not clear. In this study, we systematically explore biological behaviors of human- and goat-derived AUCs during in vitro expansion as well as cartilage regeneration in vitro and in vivo. To eliminate material interference, a cell sheet model was used to evaluate the feasibility of dedifferentiated AUCs to re-differentiate and regenerate cartilage in vitro and in vivo. We found that the dedifferentiated AUCs could re-differentiate and regenerate cartilage sheets under the chondrogenic medium system, and the generated chondrocyte sheets gradually matured with increased in vitro culture time (2, 4, and 8 weeks). After the implantation of cartilage sheets with different in vitro culture times in nude mice, optimal neocartilage was formed in the group with 2 weeks in vitro cultivation. After in vivo implantation, ossification only occurred in the group with goat-regenerated cartilage sheet of 8 weeks in vitro cultivation. These results, which were confirmed in human and goat AUCs, suggest that AUCs are ideal seed cells for the clinical translation of cartilage regeneration under the appropriate culture system and culture condition.

The application of human periodontal ligament stem cells and biomimetic silk scaffold for in situ tendon regeneration

Background With the development of tissue engineering, enhanced tendon regeneration could be achieved by exploiting suitable cell types and biomaterials. The accessibility, robust cell amplification ability, superior tendon differentiation potential, and immunomodulatory effects of human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) indicate their potential as ideal seed cells for tendon tissue engineering. Nevertheless, there are currently no reports of using PDLSCs as seed cells. Previous studies have confirmed the potential of silk scaffold for tendon tissue engineering. However, the biomimetic silk scaffold with tendon extracellular matrix (ECM)-like structure has not been systematically studied for in situ tendon regeneration. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effects of hPDLSCs and biomimetic silk scaffold on in situ tendon regeneration. Methods Human PDLSCs were isolated from extracted wisdom teeth. The differentiation potential of hPDLSCs towards osteo-, chondro-, and adipo-lineage was examined by cultured in different inducing media. Aligned and random silk scaffolds were fabricated by the controlled directional freezing technique. Scaffolds were characterized including surface structure, water contact angle, swelling ratio, degradation speed and mechanical properties. The biocompatibility of silk scaffolds was evaluated by live/dead staining, SEM observation, cell proliferation determination and immunofluorescent staining of deposited collagen type I. Subsequently, hPDLSCs were seeded on the aligned silk scaffold and transplanted into the ruptured rat Achilles tendon. Scaffolds without cells served as control groups. After 4 weeks, histology evaluation was carried out and macrophage polarization was examined to check the repair effects and immunomodulatory effects. Results Human PDLSCs were successfully isolated, and their multi-differentiation potential was confirmed. Compared with random scaffold, aligned silk scaffold had more elongated and aligned pores and promoted the proliferation and ordered arrangement of hPDLSCs. After implantation into rat Achilles tendon defect, hPDLSCs seeded aligned silk scaffold enhanced tendon repair with more tendon-like tissue formation after 4 weeks, as compared to the scaffold-only groups. Higher expression of CD206 and lower expression of iNOS, IL-1β and TNF-α were found in the hPDLSCs seeded aligned silk scaffold group, which revealed its modulation effect of macrophage polarization from M1 to M2 phenotype. Conclusions In summary, this study demonstrates the efficacy of hPDLSCs as seed cells and aligned silk scaffold as a tendon-mimetic scaffold for enhanced tendon tissue engineering, which may have broad implications for future tendon tissue engineering and regenerative medicine researches.

Single Cell Transcriptomic Profiling of Patient-Derived Xenografts of Mantle Cell Lymphoma Reveals a Special Tumor Cell Population: Seed Cells for Disease Dissemination and Progression

Introduction Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) patients often presents at later stages and progress through its disease course by frequent involvement of multiple dissemination sites including spleen, liver, bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood (PB), and gastrointestinal tract (GI). This devious behavior translates into high degree of clinicopathologic heterogeneity, which may compromise therapies and promote relapse. Therefore, dissecting the cellular and molecular profiling and trafficking is critical in understanding the role of tissue tropism and evolution patterns contributing to its biological behavior. Since it is almost unfeasible to perform spatiotemporal collection in patients, in this study we took advantage of PDX models with serial samples and single cell transcriptomic profiling to address this important biology issue for the first time on MCL. Method Orthotopic PDX models (n = 6) were established via intravenous (IV) inoculation of primary MCL patient samples collected from PB (n = 5) or from LN (n = 1). These mouse models displayed similar dissemination patterns as the parental tumors. Cells from the predominant site of generation 1 (G1) were used to pass onto next generations (up to G9). For heterotopic PDX models, subcutaneous (SC) models were generated in parallel from two independent lines (up to G6) and exhibited predominant tumor growth at primary injection site with tumor spread to secondary sites only at very late stage. PDX samples from IV models (spleen, liver, BM, PB) and SC models across generations (n = 36) were collected and subjected to scRNA-seq profiling together with parental patient samples (n = 6) and healthy donor PBMC samples (n = 2). Results All six PDX models at G1 faithfully mirrored parental samples by displaying similar cancer hallmarks. Interestingly, MYC and OXPHOS signaling were predominantly and progressively augmented with each IV passage, and to a lesser extent across SC passages, suggesting a higher degree of selection and evolution processes during orthotopic passage. With spatial collection at distinct dissemination sites (spleen, liver, BM and PB) within same generations, we revealed that heterogenous transcriptomic profiles were more evident across tissues than generations. Specifically, cancer hallmarks such as MYC (NES = 8.4, FDR < 0.01), OXPHOS (NES = 8.9, FDR < 0.01) and mTORC1 (NES = 6.6, FDR < 0.01) signaling were highly enriched in cells from PB, and to a lesser extent in spleen and liver when compared to the cells in BM. More intriguingly, 55-60% of tumor cells in PB clustered together and showed enhanced cancer hallmarks for tumor migration and invasion (NES = 7.9, FDR < 0.01), higher de-differentiation scores (cytoTRACE) and G0/G1 cell cycle stage. This suggests that these cells are quiescent, de-differentiated and disseminative. Importantly, a small fraction of cells from spleen (5-18%) and liver (12-18%), but not in BM, showed similar characteristics and clustered together with those from PB. Histopathologic analysis showed that tumor cells could be detected in blood only after cells settled and expanded in the spleen, liver or BM, whereas dissemination to LN, GI tract, lung and kidney were even later events. Therefore, it is likely that these disseminative MCL cells originate from tissues and represent the tumor seed cells for disease dissemination. More interestingly, the top differential expressed genes (DEGs) in these seed cells were also significantly upregulated in ibrutinib-resistant patients (p < 0.01), compared to that in ibrutinib-sensitive patients based on bulk RNA sequencing (n = 69). This indicates that these seed cells are more resistant to ibrutinib and may drive therapeutic relapse. Targetable molecules are under active investigation to eradicate this ibrutinib-resistant seed cells. Conclusion MCL tissue tropism results in distinct transcriptomic profiles. A special cell population of tumor seed cells was identified to be quiescent, de-differentiated and disseminative, and may drive tumor spread, disease progression and therapeutic resistance (Figure 1). These observations provide biological insights into MCL disease progression in multiple MCL sites. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Wang: InnoCare: Consultancy, Research Funding; CAHON: Honoraria; BeiGene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Dava Oncology: Honoraria; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Kite Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; OMI: Honoraria; Acerta Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Oncternal: Consultancy, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Miltenyi Biomedicine GmbH: Consultancy, Honoraria; Chinese Medical Association: Honoraria; Celgene: Research Funding; Imedex: Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Epizyme: Consultancy, Honoraria; BioInvent: Research Funding; Physicians Education Resources (PER): Honoraria; The First Afflicted Hospital of Zhejiang University: Honoraria; Moffit Cancer Center: Honoraria; Newbridge Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria; Lilly: Research Funding; DTRM Biopharma (Cayman) Limited: Consultancy; Genentech: Consultancy; Juno: Consultancy, Research Funding; Loxo Oncology: Consultancy, Research Funding; VelosBio: Consultancy, Research Funding; Mumbai Hematology Group: Honoraria; CStone: Consultancy; Bayer Healthcare: Consultancy; Anticancer Association: Honoraria; Scripps: Honoraria; Hebei Cancer Prevention Federation: Honoraria; Clinical Care Options: Honoraria; BGICS: Honoraria; Molecular Templates: Research Funding.

PACAP-derived peptide MPAPO impacts Adipose-derived stem cells adipogenic differentiation

BackgroundRegenerative medicine and tissue engineering have brought new therapeutic prospects to the treatment of soft tissue defects, but the selection of seed cells is the key to treatment. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) have always been a popular candidate for seed cells because of their rich sources, easy access, high plasticity, and strong value-added capabilities. The purpose of the current study is to explore the role of PACAP -derived peptide MPAPO on the adipogenic differentiation of ASCs and its molecular mechanism.MethodsThe effect of MPAPO on the proliferation of adipose-derived stem cells were detected by CCK-8 assay and PI single-staining-flow. To reveal the direct effect of MPAPO on the adipogenic differentiation of ASCs, a model of adipogenic differentiation of adipose stem cells was established. In addition, adipogenic differentiation capacity was assessed using Oil-Red-O Staining, Triglyceride (TG) assay and quantification of gene expression. Finally, the relationship between ASCs adipogenic differentiation and the ERK signaling pathway was explored by Western blot.ResultsMPAPO treatment can significantly promote the proliferation of ASCs. In addition, PACAP treatment improves the adipogenic differentiation efficiency of ASCs, including promoting the accumulation of lipid droplets and triglycerides, and the expression of adipogenic-related transcription factors PPARγ and C/EBPα. The mechanism studies showed that MPAPO selectively binds to the PAC1 receptor to promote the adipogenic differentiation of ASCs via activating the ERK signaling pathway.ConclusionsThe present study shows that MPAPO could promote the adipogenic differentiation of ASCs by activating the ERK signaling pathway, and provide relevant experimental evidence for the filling of clinical tissue defects.

5-Azacytidine-Induced Cardiomyocyte Differentiation of Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells

The use of stem cells in generating cell-based pacemaker therapies for bradyarrhythmia is currently being considered. Due to the propensity of stem cells to form tumors, as well as ethical issues surrounding their use, the seed cells used in cardiac biological pacemakers have limitations. Very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) are a unique and rare adult stem cell population, which have the same structural, genetic, biochemical, and functional characteristics as embryonic stem cells without the ethical controversy. In this study, we investigated the ability of rat bone marrow- (BM-) derived VSELs to differentiate in vitro into cardiomyocytes by 5-Azacytidine (5-AzaC) treatment. The morphology of VSELs treated with 10 μM 5-AzaC increased in volume and gradually changed to cardiomyocyte-like morphology without massive cell death. Additionally, mRNA expression of the cardiomyocyte markers cardiac troponin-T (cTnT) and α-sarcomeric actin (α-actin) was significantly upregulated after 5-AzaC treatment. Conversely, stem cell markers such as Nanog, Oct-4, and Sox2 were continuously downregulated posttreatment. On day 14 post-5-AzaC treatment, the positive expression rates of cTnT and α-actin were 18.41±1.51% and 19.43±0.51%, respectively. Taken together, our results showed that rat BM-VSELs have the ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes in vitro. These findings suggest that VSELs would be useful as seed cells in exploring the mechanism of biological pacemaker activity.

Acceleration of Pelvic Tissue Construction by Overexpression of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor in the Stem Cells

Background Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common debilitating condition affecting about 30–40% of women. The application of stem cells therapy and growth factor has greatly promoted the development of pelvic tissue engineering, which remains a promising approach, but there is no consensus on the therapeutic mechanism of stem cells and the application of growth factors. Stem cells were mainly used as seed cells to differentiate into target tissue cells, fuse with target tissue after transplantation and paracrine effect to play a therapeutic role in pelvic tissue engineering. However, whether stem cells can be differentiated into target tissue cells is still to be a question,in this regard, the contemporary trend is to investigated the effect of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) as the seed cells of pelvic tissue engineering on the repair of POP and the underlying mechanisms.Methods In the present study,we evaluated the therapeutic potential of gene-modified ADSC that overexpress basic fibroblast growth factor（bFGF）and evaluated its effects on paracrine function and directional differentiation ability.Results The results showed that following ADSCs are designed to continuously release controllable levels of growth factors during the control period of repair, taking advantage of the paracrine function of stem cells to accelerate cell growth and extracellular matrix (ECM) reconstruction during the early stage of stem cell implantation, and then stem cells are differentiated into target tissues-fibroblasts to accelerate the reconstruction of pelvic floor tissues.Conclusions We suggest that the observed effects are determined by pleiotropic effects of bFGF, along with the multifactorial paracrine action of ADSC which remain viable and functionally active within the engineered cell construct.Thus, we demonstrated the high therapeutic potential of the utilized approach for pelvic tissue engineering.

Clinical Application Status of Articular Cartilage Regeneration Techniques: Tissue-Engineered Cartilage Brings New Hope

Hyaline articular cartilage lacks blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves and is characterised by limited self-repair ability following injury. Traditional techniques of articular cartilage repair and regeneration all have certain limitations. The development of tissue engineering technology has brought hope to the regeneration of articular cartilage. The strategies of tissue-engineered articular cartilage can be divided into three types: “cell-scaffold construct,” cell-free, and scaffold-free. In “cell-scaffold construct” strategies, seed cells can be autologous chondrocytes or stem. Among them, some commercial products with autologous chondrocytes as seed cells, such as BioSeed®-C and CaReS®, have been put on the market and some products are undergoing clinical trials, such as NOVOCART® 3D. The stem cells are mainly pluripotent stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells from different sources. Cell-free strategies that indirectly utilize the repair and regeneration potential of stem cells have also been used in clinical settings, such as TruFit and MaioRegen. Finally, the scaffold-free strategy is also a new development direction, and the short-term repair results of related products, such as NOVOCART® 3D, are encouraging. In this paper, the commonly used techniques of articular cartilage regeneration in surgery are reviewed. By studying different strategies and different seed cells, the clinical application status of tissue-engineered articular cartilage is described in detail.