High-Resolution Dissection of Chemical Reprogramming from Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts into Fibrocartilaginous Cells.

ABSTRACT: Articular cartilage injury and degeneration causing pain and loss of quality-of-life has become a serious problem for increasingly aged populations. Given the poor self-renewal of adult human chondrocytes, alternative functional cell sources are needed. Direct reprogramming by small molecules potentially offers an oncogene-free and cost-effective approach to generate chondrocytes, but has yet to be investigated. Here, we directly reprogrammed mouse embryonic fibroblasts into PRG4+ chondrocytes using a 3D system with a chemical cocktail, VCRTc (valproic acid, CHIR98014, Repsox, TTNPB, and celecoxib). Using single-cell transcriptomics, we revealed the inhibition of fibroblast features and activation of chondrogenesis pathways in early reprograming, and the intermediate cellular process resem

SUBMITTER: Chen Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7066361 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature