Generation of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells From Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are reprogrammed somatic cells and are an excellent cell source for tissue engineering applications, disease modeling, and for understanding human development. HiPSC lines have now been generated from a diverse range of somatic cell types and have been reported to retain an epigenetic memory of their somatic origin. To date, the reprogramming of a true ligament has not been reported.

SkeletalVis: an exploration and meta-analysis data portal of cross-species skeletal transcriptomics data.

Motivation: Skeletal diseases are prevalent in society, but improved molecular understanding is required to formulate new therapeutic strategies. Large and increasing quantities of available skeletal transcriptomics experiments give the potential for mechanistic insight of both fundamental skeletal biology and skeletal disease. However, no current repository provides access to processed, readily interpretable analysis of this data.

Stratification of knee osteoarthritis: two major patient subgroups identified by genome-wide expression analysis of articular cartilage.

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a heterogeneous and complex disease. We have used a network biology approach based on genome-wide analysis of gene expression in OA knee cartilage to seek evidence for pathogenic mechanisms that may distinguish different patient subgroups.

Methods: Results from RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) were collected from intact knee cartilage at total knee replacement from 44 patients with OA, from 16 additional patients with OA and 10 control patients with non-OA.

PhenomeScape: a cytoscape app to identify differentially regulated sub-networks using known disease associations.

Unlabelled: PhenomeScape is a Cytoscape app which provides easy access to the PhenomeExpress algorithm to interpret gene expression data. PhenomeExpress integrates protein interaction networks with known phenotype to gene associations to find active sub-networks enriched in differentially expressed genes. It also incorporates cross-species phenotypes and associations to include results from animal models of disease.

Notch signaling during chondrogenesis of human bone marrow stem cells.

Notch signaling is an important mechanism involved in early development which helps to determine the differentiation and fate of cells destined to form different tissues in the body. Its role in the differentiation of adult stem cells, such as those found in bone marrow is much less clear. As there is great interest in the potential of human bone marrow stem cells (hMSC) as a source of cells for the repair of articular cartilage and other tissues, it is important to understand if Notch signaling promotes or suppresses differentiation.

Chondrogenic differentiation of human bone marrow stem cells in transwell cultures: generation of scaffold-free cartilage.

Human bone marrow stem cells (hMSCs) have been shown to differentiate in vitro into a number of cell lineages and are a potential autologous cell source for the repair and replacement of damaged and diseased musculoskeletal tissues. hMSC differentiation into chondrocytes has been described in high-density cell pellets cultured with specific growth and differentiation factors. We now describe how culture of hMSCs as a shallow multicellular layer on a permeable membrane over 2-4 weeks resulted in a much more efficient formation of cartilaginous tissue than in established chondrogenic assays.