Cartilage organoids for cartilage development and cartilage-associated disease modeling

Abstract

Cartilage organoids have emerged as powerful modelling technology for recapitulation of joint embryonic events, and cartilage regeneration, as well as pathophysiology of cartilage-associated diseases. Recent breakthroughs have uncovered “mini-joint” models comprising of multicellular components and extracellular matrices of joint cartilage for development of novel disease-modifying strategies for personalized therapeutics of cartilage-associated diseases. Here, we hypothesized that LGR5-expressing embryonic joint chondroprogenitor cells are ideal stem cells for the generation of cartilage organoids as “mini-joints” ex vivo “in a dish” for embryonic joint development, cartilage repair, and cartilage-associated disease modelling as essential research models of drug screening for further personalized regenerative therapy. The pilot research data suggested that LGR5-GFP-expressing embryonic joint progenitor cells are promising for generation of cartilage organoids through gel embedding method, which may exert various preclinical and clinical applications for realization of personalized regenerative therapy in the future.

Osteochondral organoids: current advances, applications, and upcoming challenges

“…The recent development of DNA nanostructures can progress novel drug design and delivery systems with remarkable editability and biocompatibility features and may improve OC organoids [ 66 ]. There is a greater emphasis on utilizing bone or cartilage organoids for drug screening [ 164 , 165 ]; however, the number of studies exploring osteochondral organoids as platforms for drug testing remains limited in the scientific literature. The various techniques used for organoid production have developed in very recent years, and further improvements are required to advance the accuracy, precision, and efficiency of drug monitoring of osteochondral-related diseases.…”

Small Joint Organoids 3D Bioprinting: Construction Strategy and Application

“…Thus, the directed differentiation of stem cells into chondrocytes is also an important part of building joint organoids. [28] For example, Tam et al have cultured cartilage organoids with characteristics of hyaline cartilagelike tissue by inducing human pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into chondrocytes. [29] In the context of 3D bioprinting, it typically involves encapsulating chondrocytes or stem cells capable of differentiating along the chondrogenic lineage within hydrogels.…”

“…Thus, the directed differentiation of stem cells into chondrocytes is also an important part of building joint organoids. [ 28 ] For example, Tam et al. have cultured cartilage organoids with characteristics of hyaline cartilage‐like tissue by inducing human pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into chondrocytes.…”

Cartilage organoids and osteoarthritis research: a narrative review

“…Cartilage organoids are an extension of organoid development. They are formed by differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), or adult stem cells (ASCs) with self-renewal and self-organization ability and have the basic spatial structure and partial physiological functions of cartilage tissue (GBD, 2017 Disease andInjury Incidence andPrevalence Collaborators et al, 2018;Lin et al, 2023). Cartilage organoids have the basic spatial structure and partial physiological functions of cartilage tissue and have important potential value in the research and treatment of articular cartilage diseases.…”