title: Skeletal Muscle Differentiation on a Chip Shows Human Donor Mesoangioblasts' Efficiency in Restoring Dystrophin in a Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Model.
abstract: : Restoration of the protein dystrophin on muscle membrane is the goal of many research lines aimed at curing Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Results of ongoing preclinical and clinical trials suggest that partial restoration of dystrophin might be sufficient to significantly reduce muscle damage. Different myogenic progenitors are candidates for cell therapy of muscular dystrophies, but only satellite cells and pericytes have already entered clinical experimentation. This study aimed to provide in vitro quantitative evidence of the ability of mesoangioblasts to restore dystrophin, in terms of protein accumulation and distribution, within myotubes derived from DMD patients, using a microengineered model. We designed an ad hoc experimental strategy to miniaturize on a chip the standard process of muscle regeneration independent of variables such as inflammation and fibrosis. It is based on the coculture, at different ratios, of human dystrophin-positive myogenic progenitors and dystrophin-negative myoblasts in a substrate with muscle-like physiological stiffness and cell micropatterns. Results showed that both healthy myoblasts and mesoangioblasts restored dystrophin expression in DMD myotubes. However, mesoangioblasts showed unexpected efficiency with respect to myoblasts in dystrophin production in terms of the amount of protein produced (40% vs. 15%) and length of the dystrophin membrane domain (210-240 µm vs. 40-70 µm). These results show that our microscaled in vitro model of human DMD skeletal muscle validated previous in vivo preclinical work and may be used to predict efficacy of new methods aimed at enhancing dystrophin accumulation and distribution before they are tested in vivo, reducing time, costs, and variability of clinical experimentation.
  
  
  
  This study aimed to provide in vitro quantitative evidence of the ability of human mesoangioblasts to restore dystrophin, in terms of protein accumulation and distribution, within myotubes derived from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), using a microengineered model. An ad hoc experimental strategy was designed to miniaturize on a chip the standard process of muscle regeneration independent of variables such as inflammation and fibrosis. This microscaled in vitro model, which validated previous in vivo preclinical work, revealed that mesoangioblasts showed unexpected efficiency as compared with myoblasts in dystrophin production. Consequently, this model may be used to predict efficacy of new drugs or therapies aimed at enhancing dystrophin accumulation and distribution before they are tested in vivo.
authors: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.|Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Serena
authors: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.|Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors: Susi
authors: S
authors: Zatti
authors: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.|Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors: Alice
authors: A
authors: Zoso
authors: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.|Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Lo Verso
authors: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: F Saverio
authors: FS
authors: Tedesco
authors: Institute of Inflammation and Repair Manchester, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors: Giulio
authors: G
authors: Cossu
authors: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy nicola.elvassore@unipd.it giulio.cossu@manchester.ac.uk.|Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Elvassore
mesh_terms: D001681:Biological Assay; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology*; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D000072417:Protein Domains; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: D016189:Dystrophin
keywords: Cellular therapy; Muscular dystrophy; Pericytes; Technology; Tissue regeneration