Abstract
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent progenitors that can undergo osteogenic differentiation under proper stimuli. We demonstrated that BMP9 is one of the most osteogenic BMPs. However, the molecular mechanism underlying BMP9-initiated osteogenic signaling in MSCs remains unclear. Through gene expression profiling analysis we identified several candidate mediators of BMP9 osteogenic signaling. Here, we focus on one such signaling mediator and investigate the functional role of cysteine-rich with EGF-like domains 2 (Creld2) in BMP9-initiated osteogenic signaling. Creld2 was originally identified as an ER stress-inducible factor localized in the ER-Golgi apparatus. Our genomewide expression profiling analysis indicates that Creld2 is among the top up-regulated genes in BMP9-stimulated MSCs. We confirm that Creld2 is up-regulated by BMP9 in MSCs. ChIP analysis indicates that Smad1/5/8 directly binds to the Creld2 promoter in a BMP9-dependent fashion. Exogenous expression of Creld2 in MSCs potentiates BMP9-induced early and late osteogenic markers, and matrix mineralization. Conversely, silencing Creld2 expression inhibits BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation. In vivo stem cell implantation assay reveals that exogenous Creld2 promotes BMP9-induced ectopic bone formation and matrix mineralization, whereas silencing Creld2 expression diminishes BMP9-induced bone formation and matrix mineralization. We further show that Creld2 is localized in ER and the ER stress inducers potentiate BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation. Our results strongly suggest that Creld2 may be directly regulated by BMP9 and ER stress response may play an important role in regulating osteogenic differentiation.
Highlights
Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent progenitors which can be isolated from numerous tissues, but mostly from bone marrow stromal cells
We investigate the functional role of cysteine-rich with EGF-like domains 2 (Creld2) in BMP9-initiated osteogenic signaling in MSCs
We investigate the functional role of cysteine-rich with EGF-like domains 2 (Creld2) in BMP9initiated osteogenic signaling in MSCs
Summary
Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent progenitors which can be isolated from numerous tissues, but mostly from bone marrow stromal cells. As the important members of TGFb superfamily, BMPs play an important role during development [3,5,6] and in osteogenic differentiation [7,8]. Through gene expression profiling analysis, we have identified and characterized several early downstream targets of BMP9-induced osteoblast differentiation [6,12,26,27,28,29,30]. It remains to be fully elucidated about how BMP9 regulates the cascade events of the osteogenic differentiation
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