Tissue Transglutaminase_Variant 2-Transduced Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Chondrogenic Potential.

As cartilage is incapable of self-healing upon severe degeneration because of the lack of blood vessels, cartilage tissue engineering is gaining importance in the treatment of cartilage defects. This study was designed to improve cartilage tissue regeneration by expressing tissue transglutaminase variant 2 (TGM2_v2) in mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) derived from bone marrow of rats. For this purpose, rat MSCs transduced with TGM2_v2 were grown and differentiated on three-dimensional poly(butylene succinate) (PBSu) and poly-L-lactide (PLLA) blend scaffolds. The transduced cells could not only successfully express the short form TG2 (TG2-S), but also deposited the protein onto the scaffolds. In addition, they could spontaneously produce cartilage specific proteins without any chondrogenic induction, suggesting that TGM2_v2 expression provided the cells the ability of chondrogenic differentiation. PBSu:PLLA scaffolds loaded with TGM2_v2 expressing mesenchymal stem cells could be utilized in repair of articular cartilage defects. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.