Directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into articular cartilage reveals effects caused by absence of , the gene responsible for progressive pseudorheumatoid arthropathy of childhood.

Objectives: Progressive pseudorheumatoid arthropathy of childhood (PPAC), caused by deficiency of (), has been challenging to study because no animal model of the disease exists and cartilage recovered from affected patients is indistinguishable from common end-stage osteoarthritis. Therefore, to gain insights into why precocious articular cartilage failure occurs in this disease, we made in vitro derived articular cartilage using isogenic -deficient and -sufficient human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs).

Methods: We generated articular cartilage-like tissues from induced-(i) PSCs from two patients with PPAC and one wild-type human embryonic stem cell line in which we knocked out WISP3.

Directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into articular cartilage reveals effects caused by absence of , the gene responsible for Progressive Pseudorheumatoid Arthropathy of Childhood.

Objectives: Progressive Pseudorheumatoid Arthropathy of Childhood (PPAC), caused by deficiency of ( ), has been challenging to study because no animal model of the disease exists and cartilage recovered from affected patients is indistinguishable from common end-stage osteoarthritis. Therefore, to gain insights into why precocious articular cartilage failure occurs in this disease, we made derived articular cartilage using isogenic -deficient and -sufficient human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs).

Methods: We generated articular cartilage-like tissues from induced-(i)PSCs from 2 patients with PPAC and 1 wild-type human embryonic stem cell line in which we knocked out WISP3.

Bioengineering 3D environments for cancer models.

Tumor development is a dynamic process where cancer cells differentiate, proliferate and migrate interacting among each other and with the surrounding matrix in a three-dimensional (3D) context. Interestingly, the process follows patterns similar to those involved in early tissue formation by accessing specific genetic programs to grow and disseminate. Thus, the complex biological mechanisms driving tumor progression cannot easily be recreated in the laboratory.

Toward a 3D cellular model for studying in vitro the outcome of photodynamic treatments: accounting for the effects of tissue complexity.

Clinical therapies have traditionally been developed using two-dimensional (2D) cell culture systems, which fail to accurately capture tissue complexity. Therefore, three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures are more attractive platforms to integrate multiple cues that arise from the extracellular matrix and cells, closer to an in vivo scenario. Here we report the development of a 3D cellular model for the in vitro assessment of the outcome of oxygen- and drug-dependent therapies, exemplified by photodynamic therapy (PDT).