Project description:The therapeutic functions of stem cells were mainly depending on paracrine effects rather than their own proliferation and differentiation on site. In advantage of easy to collected from conditioned medium, have contents of cytokines, growth factors, signaling lipids, mRNAs, and regulatory miRNAs, exosomes from stem cells were considered to be a promising material for stem cell-based cell-free therapies. In traditional Chinese medicine, antler extracts have been used to alleviates aging and aging related diseases. We have demonstrated that exosomes from antler stem cells (ASCs), the source of the annual full regeneration of deer antler, could alleviate cellular senescence and aging related diseases. With exosomes treatment, the senescent phenotype of primary MSCs and hMSCs at late passage were significantly mitigated. When injected into articular cavity, exosomes from ASCs markedly promote joint function recovery and bone and cartilage regeneration. By LC-MS/MS assay, we found that exosomes from ASCs contain various proteins which in the regulation of biological processes including cell proliferation and migration, immunoregulation, wound healing and angiogenesis. With the advantages of abundant sources, low risk of tumorigenicity and immunogenicity, exosomes from ASCs may consider as a promising bio-material for cell-free therapies in the future.
Project description:Chromobox homolog 4 (CBX4), a component of polycomb repressive complexes 1 (PRC1), plays important roles in the maintenance of cell identity and organism development through epigenetic silencing. However, it remains unclear whether CBX4 regulates the homeostasis of human stem cells. Here, we demonstrate that CBX4 counteracts human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) aging via the maintenance of nucleolar homeostasis. CBX4 protein decreases in aged hMSCs, and targeted knockout of CBX4 in young hMSCs destabilizes nucleolar heterochromatin, increases ribosome biogenesis, and accelerates cellular senescence. CBX4 maintains nucleolar homeostasis by recruiting fibrillarin at nucleolar rDNA repeats, limiting excessive expression of rRNAs. Importantly, overexpression of CBX4 expression alleviates physiological hMSC aging as well as attenuates the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis in mice. Taken together, our study uncovers a novel role of CBX4 in counteracting senescence by maintaining nucleolar homeostasis, providing a potential therapeutic target for aging-associated disorders.