Research progress and development space of microRNA in the process of intervertebral disc degeneration / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Full-understanding of the mechanism of microRNA (miRNA) in the process of intervertebral disc degeneration at the cellular and molecular levels can provides new idea for the early prevention or treatment of a series of spinal diseases to intervertebral disc degeneration. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the research status of the role of miRNA in the cause and mechanism of intervertebral disc degeneration. METHODS: A computed-based online retrieval of PubMed, Wanfang and CNKI databases was conducted with the keywords of “miRNA, intervertebral disc degeneration, extracellular matrix, apoptosis, autophagy, cartilage endplate, nucleus pulposus, fibrous ring” in English and Chinese, respectively. Finally 58 eligible articles were included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The role of miRNA in intervertebral disc degeneration has been widely studied, and some of the specific mechanisms have been verified. Most of the studies are limited to the nucleus pulposus, and there are few reports on cartilage endplate and annulus fibrosus. With the in-depth study of miRNA, there is still much space for clinical research.

Specification of functional neurons and glia from human pluripotent stem cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great promise in regenerative medicine as they are an important source of functional cells for potential cell replacement. These human PSCs, similar to their counterparts of mouse, have the full potential to give rise to any type of cells in the body. However, for the promise to be fulfilled, it is necessary to convert these PSCs into functional specialized cells. Using the developmental principles of neural lineage specification, human ESCs and iPSCs have been effectively differentiated to regional and functional specific neurons and glia, such as striatal gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurons, spinal motor neurons and myelin sheath forming oligodendrocytes. The human PSCs, in general differentiate after the similar developmental program as that of the mouse: they use the same set of cell signaling to tune the cell fate and they share a conserved transcriptional program that directs the cell fate transition. However, the human PSCs, unlike their counterparts of mouse, tend to respond divergently to the same set of extracellular signals at certain stages of differentiation, which will be a critical consideration to translate the animal model based studies to clinical application.