Synovial fluid mesenchymal progenitor cells from patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis demonstrate limited self-renewal and chondrogenesis.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a heterogeneous group of inflammatory diseases affecting joints with a prevalence of one in a thousand children. There is a growing body of literature examining the use of mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MPCs) for the treatment of adult and childhood arthritis, however, we still lack a clear understanding of how these MPC populations are impacted by arthritic disease states and how this could influence treatment efficacy. In the current study we examined the immunophenotyping, self-renewal ability and chondrogenic capacity (in vitro and in vivo) of synovial derived MPCs from normal, JIA and RA joints. Synovial MPCs from JIA patients demonstrated reduced self-renewal ability and chondrogenic differentiation capacity. Furthermore, they did not induce cartilage regeneration when xenotransplanted in a mouse cartilage injury model. Synovial MPCs from JIA patients are functionally compromised compared to MPCs from normal and/or RA joints. The molecular mechanisms behind this loss of function remain elusive. Further study is required to see if these cells can be re-functionalized and used in cell therapy strategies for these JIA patients, or if allogenic approaches should be considered.

Is Use of BMP-2 Associated with Tumor Growth and Osteoblastic Differentiation in Murine Models of Osteosarcoma?

BACKGROUND: The putative benefit of rhBMP-2 is in the setting of limb reconstruction using structural allografts, whether it be allograft-prosthetic composites, osteoarticular allografts, or intercalary segmental grafts. There are also potential advantages in augmenting osseointegration of uncemented endoprosthetics and in reducing infection. Recombinant human BMP-2 might mitigate nonunion in structural allograft augmented osteosarcoma limb salvage surgery; however, its use is limited because of concerns about the prooncogenic effects of the agent. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: (1) To assess if BMP-2 signaling influences osteosarcoma cell line growth. (2) To characterize degree of osteosarcoma cell line osteoblastic differentiation in response to BMP-2. (3) To assess if BMP-2 signaling has a consistent effect on local or systemic tumor burden in various orthotopic murine models of osteosarcoma. METHODS: In this study, 143b, SaOS-2 and DLM8-M1 osteosarcoma cell lines were transfected with BMP-2 cDNA controlled by a constitutive promoter (experimental) or an empty vector (control) using a PiggyBac transposon system. Cellular proliferation was assessed using a quantitative MTT colorimetric assay. Osteoblastic differentiation was compared between control and experimental cell lines using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction of the osteoblastic markers connective tissue growth factor, Runx-2, Osterix, alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin. Experimental and control cell lines were injected into the proximal tibia of either NOD-SCID (143b and SaOS-2 xenograft model), or C3H (DLM8-M1 syngeneic model) mice. Local tumor burden was quantitatively assessed using tumor volume caliper measurements and bioluminescence, and qualitatively assessed using post-mortem ex vivo microCT. Lung metastasis was qualitatively assessed by the presence of bioluminescence, and incidence was confirmed using histology. rhBMP-2 soaked absorbable collagen sponges (experimental) and sterile-H2O soaked absorbable collagen sponges (control) were implanted adjacent to 143b proximal tibial cell line injections to compare the effects of exogenous BMP-2 application with endogenous upregulation. RESULTS: Constitutive expression of BMP-2 increased the in vitro proliferation of 143b cells (absorbance values 1.2 ± 0.1 versus 0.89 ± 0.1, mean difference 0.36 [95% CI 0.12 to 0.6]; p = 0.01), but had no effect on SaOS-2 and DLM8-M1 cell proliferation. In response to constitutive BMP-2 expression, 143b cells had no differences in osteoblastic differentiation, while DLM8-M1 cells downregulated the early marker connective tissue growth factor (mean ΔCt 0.2 ± 0.1 versus 0.6 ± 0.1; p = 0.002) and upregulated the early-mid range marker Runx-2 (mean ΔCt -0.8 ± 0.1 versus -1.1 ± 0.1; p = 0.002), and SaOS-2 cells upregulated the mid-range marker Osterix (mean ΔCt -2.1 ± 0.6 versus -3.9 ± 0.6; p = 0.002). Constitutive expression of BMP-2 resulted in greater 143b and DLM8-M1 local tumor volume (143b: 307.2 ± 106.8 mm versus 1316 ± 387.4 mm, mean difference 1009 mm [95% CI 674.5 to 1343]; p < 0.001, DLM8-M1 week four: 0 mm versus 326.1 ± 72.8 mm, mean difference 326.1 mm [95% CI 121.2 to 531]; p = 0.009), but modestly reduced local tumor growth in SaOS-2 (9.5 x 10 ± 8.3x10 photons/s versus 9.3 x 10 ± 1.5 x 10 photons/s, mean difference 8.6 x 10 photons/s [95% CI 5.1 x 10 to 1.2 x 10]; p < 0.001). Application of exogenous rhBMP-2 also increased 143b local tumor volume (495 ± 91.9 mm versus 1335 ± 102.7 mm, mean difference 840.3 mm [95% CI 671.7 to 1009]; p < 0.001). Incidence of lung metastases was not different between experimental or control groups for all experimental conditions. CONCLUSIONS: As demonstrated by others, ectopic BMP-2 signaling has unpredictable effects on local tumor proliferation in murine models of osteosarcoma and does not consistently result in osteosarcoma cell line differentiation. Further investigations into other methods of safe bone and soft tissue healing augmentation and the use of differentiation therapies is warranted. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Our results indicate that BMP-2 has the potential to stimulate the growth of osteosarcoma cells that are poorly responsive to BMP-2 mediated osteoblastic differentiation. As this differentiation potential is unpredictable in the clinical setting, BMP-2 may promote the growth of microscopic residual tumor burden after resection. Our study provides further support for the recommendation to avoid the use of BMP-2 after limb-salvage surgery in patients with osteosarcoma.

Multiple mesenchymal progenitor cell subtypes with distinct functional potential are present within the intimal layer of the hip synovium.

BACKGROUND: The synovial membrane adjacent to the articular cartilage is home to synovial mesenchymal progenitor cell (sMPC) populations that have the ability to undergo chondrogenesis. While it has been hypothesized that multiple subtypes of stem and progenitor cells exist in vivo, there is little evidence supporting this hypothesis in human tissues. Furthermore, in most of the published literature on this topic, the cells are cultured before derivation of clonal populations. This gap in the literature makes it difficult to determine if there are distinct MPC subtypes in human synovial tissues, and if so, if these sMPCs express any markers in vivo/in situ that provide information in regards to the function of specific MPC subtypes (e.g. cells with increased chondrogenic capacity)? Therefore, the current study was undertaken to determine if any of the classical MPC cell surface markers provide insight into the differentiation capacity of sMPCs. METHODS: Clonal populations of sMPCs were derived from a cohort of patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) and patients at high risk to develop OA using indexed cell sorting. Tri-differentiation potential and cell surface receptor expression of the resultant clones was determined. RESULTS: A number of clones with distinct differentiation potential were derived from this cohort, yet the most common cell surface marker profile on MPCs (in situ) that demonstrated chondrogenic potential was determined to be CD90+/CD44+/CD73+. A validation cohort was employed to isolate cells with only this cell surface profile. Isolating cells directly from human synovial tissue with these three markers alone, did not enrich for cells with chondrogenic capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, additional markers are required to further discriminate the heterogeneous subtypes of MPCs and identify sMPCs with functional properties that are believed to be advantageous for clinical application.