Abstract
Meniscus is a semilunar wedge-shaped structure with fibrocartilaginous tissue, which plays an essential role in preventing the deterioration and degeneration of articular cartilage. Lesions or degenerations of it can lead to the change of biomechanical properties in the joints, which ultimately accelerate the degeneration of articular cartilage. Even with the manual intervention, lesions in the avascular region are difficult to be healed. Recent development in regenerative medicine of multipotent stromal cells (MSCs) has been investigated for the significant therapeutic potential in the repair of meniscal injuries. In this review, we provide a summary of the sources of MSCs involved in repairing and regenerative techniques, as well as the discussion of the avenues to utilizing these cells in MSC therapies. Finally, current progress on biomaterial implants was reviewed.
Highlights
Located between the femoral condyle and tibia plateau cartilage in the knee joint, meniscus is a crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous tissue
The International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) put forward the criteria to define human multipotent stromal cells (MSCs) (Dominici et al, 2006): expressing CD105, CD73, and CD90, and lack expression of CD45, CD34, CD14 or CD11b, CD79α or CD19, and HLA-DR surface molecules; besides, it must be plastic-adherent when maintained in a standard culture condition and preserve the ability of trilineage differentiation when incubated in an induced medium
Debnath’s research revealed that genetic stability of the exponentially growing human ADSCs was maintained without any clonal alterations until passage 5 (Debnath and Chelluri, 2019). These cells were found expressed CD29, CD44, CD71, CD90, CD105/ SH2, and SH3, and absent for CD31, CD34, and CD45 (Zuk et al, 2002). Migration of these cells was confirmed in rabbit models, in which ADSCs were labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) and were defected in the defect of meniscus (Qi et al, 2016)
Summary
Located between the femoral condyle and tibia plateau cartilage in the knee joint, meniscus is a crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous tissue This semilunar disk decreases the stress of the tibiofemoral joint by increasing the congruency and the contact area of it (Englund et al, 2012). For patients with a large area of meniscus deficiency or widespread degeneration, meniscal allograft could be transplanted to maintain the function It can effectively enhance objective knee stability and insignificantly narrow the joint space with a 5-year follow-up (Saltzman et al, 2017). MSCs have been proven to be reliable cell sources for meniscus repair in clinical and preclinical studies These cells differentiate into mature cells in the targeted tissue and generate an extracellular matrix so as to reconnect the damaged region or form new tissue, and display a similar morphology and function with adjacent tissue (Cossu et al, 2018). Both cell-based and cell-free strategies as well as one- or two-step methods will be involved in our discussion
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