Roles of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling pathway in the bony repair of injured growth plate cartilage in young rats.

Growth plate cartilage is responsible for longitudinal growth of the long bone in children, and its injury is often repaired by bony tissue, which can cause limb length discrepancy and/or bone angulation deformities. Whilst earlier studies with a rat growth plate injury repair model have identified inflammatory, mesenchymal infiltration, osteogenesis and remodeling responses, the molecular mechanisms involved in the bony repair remain unknown. Since our recent microarray study has strongly suggested involvement of Wnt-ß-catenin signalling pathway in regulating the growth plate repair and the pathway is known to play a crucial role in the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells, the current study investigated the potential roles of Wnt-ß-catenin signalling pathway in the bony repair of injured tibial growth plate in rats. Immunohistochemical analysis of the growth plate injury site revealed ß-catenin immunopositive cells within the growth plate injury site. Treatment of the injured rats with the ß-catenin inhibitor ICG-001 (oral gavage at 200mg/kg/day for 8days, commenced at day 2 post injury) enhanced COL2A1 gene expression (by qRT-PCR) and increased proportion of cartilage tissue (by histological analysis), but decreased level of osterix expression and amount of bone tissue, at the injury site by day 10 post-injury (n=8, P<0.01 compared to vehicle controls). Consistently, in vitro studies with bone marrow stromal cells from normal rats showed that ß-catenin inhibitor ICG-001 dose dependently inhibited expression of Wnt target genes Cyclin D1 and survivin (P<0.01). At 25mM, ICG-001 suppressed osteogenic (by CFU-f-ALP assay) but enhanced chondrogenic (by pellet culture) differentiation. These results suggest that Wnt/ß-catenin signalling pathway is involved in regulating growth plate injury repair by promoting osteoblastogenesis, and that intervention of this signalling could represent a potential approach in enhancing cartilage repair after growth plate injury.

Skeletal response to lentiviral mediated gene therapy in a mouse model of MPS VII.

Mucopolysaccharidosis VII (MPS VII) is an autosomal recessive, lysosomal storage disorder caused by ß-glucuronidase (GUSB) deficiency, resulting in the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), in a variety of cell types. Severe, progressive skeletal pathology, termed dysostosis multiplex, is a prominent clinical feature of MPS VII. We have evaluated a gene therapy protocol for its efficacy in preventing the development and progression of bone pathology in MPS VII mice treated with a lentiviral vector at birth or at 7 weeks. Two weeks after injections, high levels of vector expression were observed in liver, spleen and bone marrow and to a lesser extent in kidney, lung and heart. Widespread clearance of GAG storage was observed in somatic tissues of both groups and some clearance of neuronal storage was observed in mice treated from birth. Micro-CT analysis demonstrated a significant decrease in vertebral and femoral bone mineral volume, trabecular number, bone surface density and cortical bone thickness in both treatment groups. Lumbar and femoral bone lengths were significantly decreased in untreated MPS VII mice, while growth plate heights were increased and these parameters did not change upon treatment. Small improvements in performance in the open field and rotarod behaviour tests were noted. Overall, systemic lentiviral-mediated gene therapy results in a measurable improvement in parameters of bone mass and architecture as well as biochemical and enzymatic correction. Conversely, growth plate chondrocytes were not responsive to treatment, as evidenced by the lack of improvement in vertebral and femoral bone length and growth plate height.

Microarray expression analysis of genes and pathways involved in growth plate cartilage injury responses and bony repair.

The injured growth plate cartilage is often repaired by a bone bridge which causes bone growth deformities. Whilst previous studies have identified sequential inflammatory, fibrogenic, osteogenic and bone remodelling responses involved in the repair process, the molecular pathways which regulated these cellular events remain unknown. In a rat growth plate injury model, tissue from the injury site was collected across the time-course of bone bridge formation using laser capture microdissection and was subjected to Affymetrix microarray gene expression analysis. Real Time PCR and immunohistochemical analyses were used to confirm changes in levels of expression of some genes identified in microarray. Four major functional groupings of differentially expressed genes with known roles in skeletal development were identified across the time-course of bone bridge formation, including Wnt signalling (SFRP1, SFRP4, ß-catenin, Csnk2a1, Tcf7, Lef1, Fzd1, Fzd2, Wisp1 and Cpz), BMP signalling (BMP-2, BMP-6, BMP-7, Chrd, Chrdl2 and Id1), osteoblast differentiation (BMP-2, BMP-6, Chrd, Hgn, Spp1, Axin2, ß-catenin, Bglap2) and skeletal development (Chrd, Mmp9, BMP-1, BMP-6, Spp1, Fgfr1 and Traf6). These studies provide insight into the molecular pathways which act cooperatively to regulate bone formation following growth plate cartilage injury and highlight potential therapeutic targets to limit bone bridge formation.

Roles of Wnt signalling in bone growth, remodelling, skeletal disorders and fracture repair.

Wnt signalling has an essential role in regulating bone formation and remodelling during embryonic development and throughout postnatal and adult life. Specifically, Wnt signalling regulates bone formation by controlling embryonic cartilage development and postnatal chondrogenesis, osteoblastogenesis, osteoclastogenesis, endochondral bone formation, and bone remodelling. Abnormalities in the function of Wnt genes give rise to or contribute to the development of several pathological bone conditions, including abnormal bone mass, osteosarcomas and bone loss in multiple myeloma. Furthermore, Wnt signalling is activated during bone fracture repair and plays a crucial role in regulating bone regeneration.

Cellular mechanisms for methotrexate chemotherapy-induced bone growth defects.

Methotrexate (MTX) is a commonly used anti-metabolite in childhood oncology and is known to cause bone growth arrest and osteoporosis; yet the underlying mechanisms for MTX-induced bone growth defects remain largely unclear. This study characterized damaging effects in young rats of acute chemotherapy with 5 once-daily doses of MTX (0.75 mg/kg) on the cellular activities in the growth plate in producing calcified cartilage and trabecular bone and on activities of osteoblastic cells in the metaphysis. MTX treatment significantly induced chondrocyte apoptosis. MTX also suppressed chondrocyte proliferation and reduced collagen-II mRNA expression and total thickness of the growth plate, with the damage being most obvious on day 9 after the first injection, and with the growth plate histological structure returning normal on day 14. In the adjacent metaphyseal bone, mirroring the decrease in the width of the growth plate, production of primary spongiosa bone was markedly reduced and bone volume of the secondary spongiosa was decreased. Furthermore, MTX treatment significantly induced osteocyte apoptosis in the primary spongiosa and reduced proliferation of osteoblasts and preosteoblasts particularly in the secondary spongiosa. These observations suggest that methotrexate chemotherapy may cause bone growth defects by arresting cellular activities in the growth plate in producing calcified cartilage and primary trabecular bone and by decreasing pools of metaphyseal osteoblastic cells. However, this short-term MTX treatment only caused transit suppressions on growth plate cartilage and trabecular bone, as most cellular and histological parameters had recovered by day 14 or 21.