Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Published in: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research article

Characteristics and potentials of stem cells derived from human degenerated nucleus pulposus: potential for regeneration of the intervertebral disc

Authors: Xiao-Chuan Li, Yong Tang, Jian-Hong Wu, Pu-Shan Yang, De-Li Wang, Di-Ke Ruan

Published in: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Eliminating the symptoms during treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is only a temporary solution that does not cure the underlying cause. A biological method to treat this disorder may be possible by the newly discovered nucleus pulposus derived stem cells (NPDCs). However, the uncertain characteristics and potential of NPDCs calls for a comprehensive study.

Methods

In the present study, nucleus pulposus samples were obtained from 5 patients with IVDD undergoing discectomy procedure and NPDCs were harvested using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) by the co-expression of GD2+ and Tie2+. After in vitro expansion, the properties of NPDCs were compared with those of bone marrow mesenchyme stem cells (BMSCs) from the same subjects.

Results

NPDCs performed similar properties in cell colony-forming ability, cell proliferation rate, cell cycle and stem cell gene expression similar to those of BMSCs. In addition, NPDCs could be differentiated into osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondrocytes, and are found to be superior in chondrogenesis but inferior in adipocyte differentiation.

Conclusions

NPDCs derived from the degenerated intervertebral disc still keep the regeneration ability similar to BMSCs. Besides, the superior capacity in chondrogenesis may provide a promising cell candidate for cell-based regenerative medicine and tissue engineering in IVDD.
Literature
1.
Sakai D, Grad S. Advancing the cellular and molecular therapy for intervertebral disc disease. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2015;84:159–71.CrossRefPubMed
2.
DePalma MJ, Ketchum JM, Saullo T. What is the source of chronic low back pain and does age play a role? Pain Med. 2011;12(2):224–33.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Laplante BL, Ketchum JM, Saullo TR, DePalma MJ. Multivariable analysis of the relationship between pain referral patterns and the source of chronic low back pain. Pain Physician. 2012;15(2):171–8.PubMed
4.
Le Maitre CL, Pockert A, Buttle DJ, Freemont AJ, Hoyland JA. Matrix synthesis and degradation in human intervertebral disc degeneration. Biochem Soc Trans. 2007;35(Pt 4):652–5.PubMed
5.
6.
Phillips FM, Slosar PJ, Youssef JA, Andersson G, Papatheofanis F. Lumbar spine fusion for chronic low back pain due to degenerative disc disease: a systematic review. Spine. 2013;38(7):E409–22.CrossRefPubMed
7.
YU Weiyang HD, LIU Feijun. Comparison of the mid- and long-term clinical outcomes of Minimally invasive versus open Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion in treatment of one-level lumbar degenerative disease. Zhejiang Journal of Traumatic Surgery. 2015;2015(2). [Epub ahead of print]
8.
Adogwa O, Carr K, Thompson P, Hoang K, Darlington T, Perez E, Fatemi P, Gottfried O, Cheng J, Isaacs RE. A prospective, multi-institutional comparative effectiveness study of lumbar spine surgery in morbidly obese patients: does minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion result in superior outcomes? World Neurosurg. 2015;83(5):860–6.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Nukaga T, Sakai D, Tanaka M, Hiyama A, Nakai T, Mochida J. Transplantation of activated nucleus pulposus cells after cryopreservation: efficacy study in a canine disc degeneration model. Eur Cell Mater. 2016;31:95–106.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Hawkey CJ, Allez M, Clark MM, Labopin M, Lindsay JO, Ricart E, Rogler G, Rovira M, Satsangi J, Danese S, et al. Autologous hematopoetic stem cell transplantation for Refractory crohn disease: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2015;314(23):2524–34.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Tatullo M, Falisi G, Amantea M, Rastelli C, Paduano F, Marrelli M. Dental pulp stem cells and human periapical cyst mesenchymal stem cells in bone tissue regeneration: comparison of basal and osteogenic differentiated gene expression of a newly discovered mesenchymal stem cell lineage. J Biol Regul Homeost Agents. 2015;29(3):713–8.PubMed
12.
Zekri AR, Salama H, Medhat E, Musa S, Abdel-Haleem H, Ahmed OS, Khedr HA, Lotfy MM, Zachariah KS, Bahnassy AA. The impact of repeated autologous infusion of haematopoietic stem cells in patients with liver insufficiency. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2015;6:118.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
13.
Han B, Wang HC, Li H, Tao YQ, Liang CZ, Li FC, Chen G, Chen QX. Nucleus pulposus mesenchymal stem cells in acidic conditions mimicking degenerative intervertebral discs give better performance than adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Cells Tissues Organs. 2014;199(5-6):342–52.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Chan SC, Gantenbein-Ritter B. Intervertebral disc regeneration or repair with biomaterials and stem cell therapy--feasible or fiction? Swiss Med Wkly. 2012;142:w13598.PubMed
15.
Huang YC, Leung VY, Lu WW, Luk KD. The effects of microenvironment in mesenchymal stem cell-based regeneration of intervertebral disc. Spine J. 2013;13(3):352–62.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Li Z, Peroglio M, Alini M, Grad S. Potential and limitations of intervertebral disc endogenous repair. Curr Stem Cell Res Ther. 2015;10(4):329–38.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Grad S, Peroglio M, Li Z, Alini M. Endogenous cell homing for intervertebral disk regeneration. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2015;23(4):264–6.CrossRefPubMed
18.
Blanco JF, Graciani IF, Sanchez-Guijo FM, Muntion S, Hernandez-Campo P, Santamaria C, Carrancio S, Barbado MV, Cruz G, Gutierrez-Cosio S, et al. Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stromal cells from human degenerated nucleus pulposus: comparison with bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells from the same subjects. Spine. 2010;35(26):2259–65.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Risbud MV, Guttapalli A, Tsai TT, Lee JY, Danielson KG, Vaccaro AR, Albert TJ, Gazit Z, Gazit D, Shapiro IM. Evidence for skeletal progenitor cells in the degenerate human intervertebral disc. Spine. 2007;32(23):2537–44.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Henriksson H, Thornemo M, Karlsson C, Hagg O, Junevik K, Lindahl A, Brisby H. Identification of cell proliferation zones, progenitor cells and a potential stem cell niche in the intervertebral disc region: a study in four species. Spine. 2009;34(21):2278–87.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Zhang H, Ma X, Zhang L, Guan X, Bai T, Xue C. The ability to form cartilage of NPMSC and BMSC in SD rats. Int J Clin Exp Med. 2015;8(4):4989–96.PubMedPubMedCentral
22.
Shi R, Wang F, Hong X, Wang YT, Bao JP, Cai F, Wu XT. The presence of stem cells in potential stem cell niches of the intervertebral disc region: an in vitro study on rats. Eur Spine J. 2015;24(11):2411–24.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Erwin WM, Islam D, Eftekarpour E, Inman RD, Karim MZ, Fehlings MG. Intervertebral disc-derived stem cells: implications for regenerative medicine and neural repair. Spine. 2013;38(3):211–6.CrossRefPubMed
24.
van den Akker GG, Surtel DA, Cremers A, Rodrigues-Pinto R, Richardson SM, Hoyland JA, van Rhijn LW, Welting TJ, Voncken JW. Novel immortal human cell lines reveal subpopulations in the nucleus pulposus. Arthritis Res Ther. 2014;16(3):R135.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
25.
Sakai D, Nakamura Y, Nakai T, Mishima T, Kato S, Grad S, Alini M, Risbud MV, Chan D, Cheah KS, et al. Exhaustion of nucleus pulposus progenitor cells with ageing and degeneration of the intervertebral disc. Nat Commun. 2012;3:1264.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
26.
Zhang Y, Tao H, Gu T, Zhou M, Jia Z, Jiang G, Chen C, Han Z, Xu C, Wang D, et al. The effects of human Wharton’s jelly cell transplantation on the intervertebral disc in a canine disc degeneration model. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2015;6:154.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
27.
Liu LT, Huang B, Li CQ, Zhuang Y, Wang J, Zhou Y. Characteristics of stem cells derived from the degenerated human intervertebral disc cartilage endplate. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(10):e26285.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
28.
Yoshimura H, Muneta T, Nimura A, Yokoyama A, Koga H, Sekiya I. Comparison of rat mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow, synovium, periosteum, adipose tissue, and muscle. Cell Tissue Res. 2007;327(3):449–62.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Rebelatto CK, Aguiar AM, Moretao MP, Senegaglia AC, Hansen P, Barchiki F, Oliveira J, Martins J, Kuligovski C, Mansur F, et al. Dissimilar differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and adipose tissue. Exp Biol Med. 2008;233(7):901–13.CrossRef
30.
Shen Q, Zhang L, Chai B, Ma X. Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem-like cells from human nucleus pulposus tissue. Sci China Life Sci. 2015;58(5):509–11.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Chen X, Zhu L, Wu G, Liang Z, Yang L, Du Z. A comparison between nucleus pulposus-derived stem cell transplantation and nucleus pulposus cell transplantation for the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration in a rabbit model. Int J Surg. 2016;28:77–82.CrossRefPubMed
32.
Wang H, Zhou Y, Chu TW, Li CQ, Wang J, Zhang ZF, Huang B. Distinguishing characteristics of stem cells derived from different anatomical regions of human degenerated intervertebral discs. Eur Spine J. 2016;25(9):2691–704.CrossRefPubMed
33.
Tao Y, Zhou X, Liang C, Li H, Han B, Li F, Chen Q. TGF-beta3 and IGF-1 synergy ameliorates nucleus pulposus mesenchymal stem cell differentiation towards the nucleus pulposus cell type through MAPK/ERK signaling. Growth Factors. 2015;1–11.
34.
Dominici M, Le Blanc K, Mueller I, Slaper-Cortenbach I, Marini F, Krause D, Deans R, Keating A, Prockop D, Horwitz E. Minimal criteria for defining multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells. The International Society for Cellular Therapy position statement. Cytotherapy. 2006;8(4):315–7.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Ciapetti G, Granchi D, Devescovi V, Leonardi E, Greggi T, Di Silvestre M, Baldini N. Ex vivo observation of human intervertebral disc tissue and cells isolated from degenerated intervertebral discs. Eur Spine J. 2012;21 Suppl 1:S10–9.CrossRefPubMed
36.
Reems JA, Torok-Storb B. Cell cycle and functional differences between CD34+/CD38hi and CD34+/38lo human marrow cells after in vitro cytokine exposure. Blood. 1995;85(6):1480–7.PubMed
37.
Carlin R, Davis D, Weiss M, Schultz B, Troyer D. Expression of early transcription factors Oct-4, Sox-2 and Nanog by porcine umbilical cord (PUC) matrix cells. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2006;4(1):8.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
38.
Liu TM, Martina M, Hutmacher DW, Hui JH, Lee EH, Lim B. Identification of common pathways mediating differentiation of bone marrow- and adipose tissue-derived human mesenchymal stem cells into three mesenchymal lineages. Stem Cells. 2007;25(3):750–60.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Fang B, Li N, Song Y, Lin Q, Zhao RC. Comparison of human post-embryonic, multipotent stem cells derived from various tissues. Biotechnol Lett. 2009;31(7):929–38.CrossRefPubMed
40.
Lian JB, Stein GS, Stein JL, van Wijnen AJ. Osteocalcin gene promoter: unlocking the secrets for regulation of osteoblast growth and differentiation. J Cell Biochem Suppl. 1998;30–31:62–72.CrossRefPubMed
41.
Li XC, Wu YH, Bai XD, Ji W, Guo ZM, Wang CF, He Q, Ruan DK. BMP7-based functionalized self-assembling peptides protect nucleus pulposus-derived stem cells from apoptosis In Vitro. Tissue Eng Part A. 2016;22(19-20):1218–28.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Characteristics and potentials of stem cells derived from human degenerated nucleus pulposus: potential for regeneration of the intervertebral disc
Authors
Xiao-Chuan Li
Yong Tang
Jian-Hong Wu
Pu-Shan Yang
De-Li Wang
Di-Ke Ruan
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2474
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-017-1567-4

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 1/2017 Go to the issue

Research article

Plantar plate pathology is associated with erosive disease in the painful forefoot of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Research article

Self-administered physical exercise training as treatment of neck and shoulder pain among military helicopter pilots and crew: a randomized controlled trial

Research article

Spasm and flexion-relaxation phenomenon response to large lifting load during the performance of a trunk flexion-extension exercise

Research article

The Mayo conservative hip: complication analysis and management of the first 41 cases performed at a University level 1 department

Research article

Efficacy and safety of single injection of cross-linked sodium hyaluronate vs. three injections of high molecular weight sodium hyaluronate for osteoarthritis of the knee: a double-blind, randomized, multi-center, non-inferiority study

Research article

Health care utilization in patients with gout: a prospective multicenter cohort study