The clinical potential of meniscal progenitor cells

Yan, Wan-Ting; Wang, Jing-Song; Fan, Peng-Zhou; Roberts, Sally; Wright, Karina; Zhang, Zheng-Zheng

Abstract

Introduction
The meniscus is an important cushioning structure of the knee joint, the maintenance of its normal structure and function plays a crucial role in protecting the joint from early degeneration. Stem/progenitor cells could be the key to help researchers to have a deeper understanding of the biological process of meniscal injury repair and may play an important role in the meniscus tissue regeneration processes. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently a lack of comprehensive reviews on existing research about the meniscus progenitor cells (MPCs).

Objectives
We aim to summarise the existing MPCs literature, providing insights for future research on meniscus regeneration and its eventual clinical translation.

Methods
We summarize the researches on MPCs, including their isolation methods, biological characteristics and the exploration of their translational application.

Results
MPCs could be isolated according to their colony-forming ability, marker expression, migration ability and differential adhesion to fibronectin. Most existing studies on surface markers of MPCs have largely followed the paradigm of MSC research. Based on the information provided by their surface markers and expression profile, researchers located MPCs in the peripheral surface area of the meniscus. Few researches have focused on the translation and application of MPCs, with most studies being limited to MPCs extraction and subsequent re-implantation in vivo.

Conclusions
MPCs are a group of meniscus-resident cells, they exhibit certain stem/progenitor cell characteristics, such as the ability to undergo multilineage differentiation in in vitro culture. However, the existing research on MPCs is still in its early stages, further in-depth investigation is needed to better understand their roles in meniscus.

Citation

Yan, W., Wang, J., Fan, P., Roberts, S., Wright, K., & Zhang, Z. (2024). The clinical potential of meniscal progenitor cells. Journal of Cartilage & Joint Preservation (JCJP), 100166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjp.2024.100166

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 11, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Feb 16, 2024
• Publication Date: Feb 16, 2024
• Deposit Date: May 1, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Cartilage & Joint Preservation
• Electronic ISSN: 2667-2545
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 100166
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjp.2024.100166
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/756170