Chondrocytes within the growth plates acclimatize themselves to a variety of stresses that might otherwise disturb cell fate. The tumor suppressor PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted from chromosome 10) has been implicated in the maintenance of cell homeostasis. However, the functions of PTEN in regulating chondrocytic adaptation to stresses remain largely unknown. In this study, we have created chondrocyte-specific Pten knockout mice (Pten co/co ;Col2a1-Cre) using the Cre-loxP system. Following AKT activation, Pten mutant mice exhibited dyschondroplasia resembling human enchondroma. Cartilaginous nodules originated from Pten mutant resting chondrocytes that suffered from impaired proliferation and differentiation, and this was coupled with enhanced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. We further found that ER stress in Pten mutant chondrocytes only occurred under hypoxic stress, characterized by an upregulation of unfolded protein response-related genes as well as an engorged and fragmented ER in which collagens were trapped. An upregulation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) and downstream targets followed by ER stress induction was also observed in Pten mutant growth plates and in cultured chondrocytes, suggesting that PI3K/AKT signaling modulates chondrocytic adaptation to hypoxic stress via regulation of the HIF1α pathway. These data demonstrate that PTEN function in chondrocytes is essential for their adaptation to stresses and for the inhibition of dyschondroplasia.KEY WORDS: PTEN, Dyschondroplasia, ER stress, HIF1α, Knockout mouse Development 135, 3587-3597 (2008) has been shown to lead to impaired chondrocyte proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis (Oliver et al., 2005;Yang et al., 2005;Yang et al., 2007). A number of studies have shown that deregulation of ER homeostasis is correlated with malformed skeleton development (chondrodysplasia) caused by mutations in genes encoding extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins (Hashimoto et al., 2003;Ho et al., 2007;Pirog-Garcia et al., 2007;Vranka et al., 2001). Chondrocytes expressing a mutant type-X collagen tolerate ER stress, experience delayed terminal differentiation and exhibit chondrodysplasia . A recent study has shown that site-1 protease (S1P; MBTPS1 -Mouse Genome Informatics) is necessary for a specialized ER stress response by chondrocytes that is required for the genesis of normal cartilage (Patra et al., 2007). However, the precise function of the ER stress response in cartilage tumor formation remains largely unknown.The tumor suppressor PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted from chromosome 10) is a lipid phosphatase, the major substrate of which is phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate (PIP3), a secondary messenger generated by phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K). Loss of PTEN function leads to an accumulation of PIP3 and an activation of its downstream effectors, acute transforming retrovirus thymoma [AKT; also known as protein kinase B (PKB) and AKT1]. As a serine/threonine protein kinase, AKT phosphorylates key intermed...