Significance It has been previously reported that hypertrophic cartilage tissues engineered from human mesenchymal stromal cells can efficiently remodel in vivo into bone organs, recapitulating developmental steps of endochondral ossification. We have here demonstrated that the extracellular matrix (ECM) of such engineered cartilage, even in the absence of a living cell component, retains frankly osteoinductive properties. The use of an apoptosis-driven devitalization technique revealed the importance of preserving the ECM integrity and, in particular, the embedded factors to trigger the regenerative process. Although exemplified in a skeletal context, our work outlines the general paradigm of cell-based but cell-free off-the-shelf materials capable of activating endogenous cells toward the formation of specific tissues.

It is generally accepted that adult human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) are default committed toward osteogenesis. Even when induced to chondrogenesis, hMSCs typically form hypertrophic cartilage that undergoes endochondral ossification. Because embryonic mesenchyme is obviously competent to generate phenotypically stable cartilage, it is questioned whether there is a correspondence between mesenchymal progenitor compartments during development and in adulthood. Here we tested whether forcing specific early events of articular cartilage development can program hMSC fate toward stable chondrogenesis. Inspired by recent findings that spatial restriction of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling guides embryonic progenitors toward articular cartilage formation, we hypothesized that selective inhibition of BMP drives the phenotypic stability of hMSC-derived chondrocytes. Two BMP type I receptor-biased kinase inhibitors were screened in a microfluidic platform for their time- and dose-dependent effect on hMSC chondrogenesis. The different receptor selectivity profile of tested compounds allowed demonstration that transient blockade of both ALK2 and ALK3 receptors, while permissive to hMSC cartilage formation, is necessary and sufficient to maintain a stable chondrocyte phenotype. Remarkably, even upon compound removal, hMSCs were no longer competent to undergo hypertrophy in vitro and endochondral ossification in vivo, indicating the onset of a constitutive change. Our findings demonstrate that adult hMSCs effectively share properties of embryonic mesenchyme in the formation of transient but also of stable cartilage. This opens potential pharmacological strategies to articular cartilage regeneration and more broadly indicates the relevance of developmentally inspired protocols to control the fate of adult progenitor cell systems.

The hTERT-immortalization of human bone marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (hMSCs) was proposed to address availability/standardization issues for experimental or clinical studies, but raised concerns due to possible uncontrolled growth or malignant cell transformation. Here we report a method to generate a hMSCs line with controlled survival, through the implementation of a pre-established suicide system (inducible caspase 9, iCasp9) in hTERT-transduced hMSCs. Primary hMSCs were successfully immortalized (>280 PD) and further transduced with the iCasp9 device. A clone was selected and shown to maintain typical properties of primary hMSCs, including phenotype, differentiation and immunomodulation capacities. The successive transductions did not induce tumorigenic transformation, as assessed by analysis of cell cycle regulators and in vivo luciferase-based cell tracking. Cells could be efficiently induced toward apoptosis (>95%) both in vitro and in vivo. By combining the opposite concepts of 'induced-life' and 'inducible-death', we generated a hMSCs line with defined properties and allowing for temporally controlled survival. The cell line represents a relevant tool for medical discovery in regenerative medicine and a potential means to address availability, standardization and safety requirements in cell & gene therapy. The concept of a hTERT-iCasp9 combination, here explored in the context of hMSCs, could be extended to other types of progenitor/stem cells.