Transcriptional regulators of chondrocyte hypertrophy.
Coordinated transition from proliferation to terminal differentiation and hypertrophy of growth plate chondrocytes is required for normal growth of endochondral bones and thus determines final height in humans. Over the last decades, transcription factors of the Sox and Runx families have been shown to be the central regulators of this process. More recently, numerous additional transcription factors have been identified as positive or negative regulators of chondrocyte hypertrophy, such as Shox/Shox2, Dlx5, and MEF2C. These factors do not only control skeletal development and growth, but might also participate in ectopic chondrocyte hypertrophy during the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. This review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of the transcriptional regulation of chondrocyte hypertrophy, with particular attention to genes that have only recently been implicated in cartilage development or received little attention so far.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Lauren A
LA
Solomon
Nathalie G
NG
Bérubé
Frank
F
Beier
D000818:Animals; D001846:Bone Development / Q000502:physiology*; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002356:Cartilage / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology*; D050659:Core Binding Factor Alpha 1 Subunit / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D016678:Genome; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy / Q000473:pathology*; D026161:MADS Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D064326:MEF2 Transcription Factors; D051379:Mice; D018006:Myogenic Regulatory Factors / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D050659:Core Binding Factor Alpha 1 Subunit; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D026161:MADS Domain Proteins; D064326:MEF2 Transcription Factors; C578040:MEF2C protein, human; D018006:Myogenic Regulatory Factors; C493709:RUNX2 protein, human; C493716:Runx2 protein, mouse; C484664:SHOX2 protein, human; C484663:Shox2 protein, mouse