Engineered Stem Cell Clusters for Extracellular Vesicles-Mediated Gene Delivery to Rejuvenate Chondrocytes and Facilitate Chondrogenesis in Osteoarthritis Therapy.

ABSTRACT: Gene therapy offers an ideal potential treatment strategy for osteoarthritis (OA). However, the safe and efficient delivery of therapeutic genes remains highly challenging because of the inactivation in direct delivery of miRNA, low transfection efficiency, and a short half-life. This study introduced a gene therapy strategy using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a gene delivery platform and achieved the sustained delivery of therapeutic genes via engineered MSCs-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs). The miRNA-874-3p is combined with an exosome-targeting motif and transfected into bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). The BMSCs^motif+miR874 are then seeded onto hydrogel microspheres, creating the BMSC^motif+miR874/MS system for OA treatment. In vitro experiments d

SUBMITTER: Wu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12224965 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature