Differentiation of Fibroblast-Derived Induced Multipotent Stem Cells Into Functional Osteogenic-Like Cells for Bone Tissue Engineering

摘要

Bone defects are encountered frequently in the clinic, and the limited sources of bone grafts are a key obstacle faced by clinicians. Recently, composite materials combining stem cells and bio-scaffolds have become alternative to bone grafts for the treatment of bone damage. In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy of a cell therapy using induced multipotent stem cells (iMSCs) generated by the differentiation of rabbit skin fibroblasts into osteogenic-like cells. After transient reprogramming, activation of stem cell markers, including Oct4 and Nanog, was confirmed in the treated cells. The reprogrammed cells were multipotent as demonstrated by their ability to differentiate into a variety of cell types. To evaluate the in vivo osteogenic differentiation potential of the iMSCs, they were transplanted into bone defects in rabbits using a konjac glucomannon (KGM)/hyaluronic acid (HA) cartilage scaffold material as the carrier. The iMSCs were found to differentiate into osteoblast-like cells in the bone defect site based on. This study shows the feasibility of a simple and inexpensive transplantation approach employing iMSCs derived from skin fibroblasts as a source of osteogenic cells for the treatment of bone defects.