title: A pathway to bone: signaling molecules and transcription factors involved in chondrocyte development and maturation.
abstract: Decades of work have identified the signaling pathways that regulate the differentiation of chondrocytes during bone formation, from their initial induction from mesenchymal progenitor cells to their terminal maturation into hypertrophic chondrocytes. Here, we review how multiple signaling molecules, mechanical signals and morphological cell features are integrated to activate a set of key transcription factors that determine and regulate the genetic program that induces chondrogenesis and chondrocyte differentiation. Moreover, we describe recent findings regarding the roles of several signaling pathways in modulating the proliferation and maturation of chondrocytes in the growth plate, which is the 'engine' of bone elongation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Building C-Room 305A, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kozhemyakina
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Building C-Room 305A, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA andrew_lassar@hms.harvard.edu eli.zelzer@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Lassar
authors.affiliation: Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Molecular Genetics, PO Box 26, Rehovot 76100, Israel andrew_lassar@hms.harvard.edu eli.zelzer@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: Elazar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zelzer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D020219:Chondrogenesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006132:Growth Plate / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: Chondrocyte hypertrophy; Chondrogenesis; Fgfr3; Growth plate; Ihh; PTHrP; Sox9