Review
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World J Stem Cells. Jun 26, 2023; 15(6): 548-560
Published online Jun 26, 2023. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i6.548
Factors affecting osteogenesis and chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in osteoarthritis
Yi Peng, Hai Jiang, Hou-Dong Zuo
Yi Peng, Hai Jiang, Hou-Dong Zuo, Medical Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan Province, China
Hou-Dong Zuo, Department of Radiology, Chengdu Xinhua Hospital, Chengdu 610067, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Yi P wrote the paper; Hai J reviewed the literature; Zuo HD designed the outline and coordinated the writing of the paper; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the Nature Science Foundation of China, No. 81701756; Sichuan Provincial Department of Education, No. 18ZB0215; City-School Cooperation Project, No. 18SXHZ0389 and No. 22SXZRKX0005; and Chengdu Medical Project, No. 2022573.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hou-Dong Zuo, MD, Doctor, Teacher, Medical Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, No. 1 Maoyuan South Road, Shunqing District, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan Province, China. zuohoud@163.com
Received: March 17, 2023
Peer-review started: March 17, 2023
First decision: April 10, 2023
Revised: April 21, 2023
Accepted: May 5, 2023
Article in press: May 5, 2023
Published online: June 26, 2023
Processing time: 101 Days and 0.8 Hours
Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease that often involves progressive cartilage degeneration and bone destruction of subchondral bone. At present, clinical treatment is mainly for pain relief, and there are no effective methods to delay the progression of the disease. When this disease progresses to the advanced stage, the only treatment option for most patients is total knee replacement surgery, which causes patients great pain and anxiety. As a type of stem cell, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have multidirectional differentiation potential. The osteogenic differentiation and chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs can play vital roles in the treatment of OA, as they can relieve pain in patients and improve joint function. The differentiation direction of MSCs is accurately controlled by a variety of signaling pathways, so there are many factors that can affect the differentiation direction of MSCs by acting on these signaling pathways. When MSCs are applied to OA treatment, the microenvironment of the joints, injected drugs, scaffold materials, source of MSCs and other factors exert specific impacts on the differentiation direction of MSCs. This review aims to summarize the mechanisms by which these factors influence MSC differentiation to produce better curative effects when MSCs are applied clinically in the future.

Keywords: Osteoarthritis; Mesenchymal stem cells; Differentiation; Hypoxia; Dexamethasone; Cell therapy

Core Tip: Several reviews have summarized the current status of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). These studies usually focus on the paracrine function of MSCs. However, the differentiation function of MSCs also plays an important role in the treatment of diseases. This is the first review to report the factors that may affect the differentiation direction of MSCs in the treatment of OA and aims to provide guidance for more accurate regulation when MSC therapy is applied in the future.