title: Enhanced treatment of articular cartilage defect of the knee by intra-articular injection of Bcl-xL-engineered mesenchymal stem cells in rabbit model.
abstract: Direct intra-articular injection of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been proposed as a potential cell therapy for cartilage defects. This cell therapy relies on the survival of the implanted MSCs. However, the arduous local environment may limit cell viability after implantation, which would restrict the cells' regenerative capacity. Thus, it is necessary to reinforce the implanted cells against the unfavourable microenvironment in order to improve the efficacy of cell therapy. We examined whether the transduction of an anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-xL, into MSCs could prevent cell death and improve the implantation efficiency of MSCs in a rabbit model. Our current findings demonstrate that the group treated with Bcl-xL-engineered MSCs could improve cartilage healing both morphologically and histologically when compared with the controls. These results suggest that intra-articular injection of Bcl-xL-engineered MSCs is a potential non-invasive therapeutic method for effectively treating cartilage defects of the knee.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Stomatology, The Fourth Military Medical University, No. 145, ChangLe Western Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Jun-Lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Jun-Rui
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yan-Pu
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Tian-Qiu
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003470:Culture Media / Q000494:pharmacology; D019610:Cytoprotection / Q000187:drug effects; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007270:Injections, Intra-Articular; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D011817:Rabbits; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D014162:Transfection; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects; D051020:bcl-X Protein / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D051020:bcl-X Protein; C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins