Construction and application of bi-functional adenoviral vectors for engineered articular chondrogenesis

• Main Author: Yao, Yongchang
• Other Authors: Wang Dongan
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/42512
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Articular hyaline cartilage is an avascular, aneural and alymphatic tissue that has a very limited capability to self-regenerate after damaged by injuries or degenerative diseases. This project aims to develop engineered articular cartilage for cartilage repair. We found that SMSCs infected with Ad-TGF β3 did promote the chondrogenesis of SMSCS effectively but stimulated the fibrosis. Hence, two approaches for combinational transfer of transgene TGF-β3 and anti-Col I shRNA via adenoviral vector were proposed and their effects for chondrogenesis were evaluated. Additionally, we expanded the study to another conventional cell source---chondrocytes, hypothesizing that this combinational delivery would also help chondrocytes maintain their phenotypes even after repeated monolayer passages. The results demonstrate that the combinational delivery system is effective on both inducing Col I-free chondrogenesis of SMSCs and promoting redifferentiation of dedifferentiated chondrocytes. The dual functions applied in engineered cartilage will make cell-based therapeutics more feasible and reliable for cartilage regeneration.