Enhancing Stem Cell Therapy for Cartilage Repair in Osteoarthritis—A Hydrogel Focused Approach
Yisi Liu,
Meng Wang,
Yixuan Luo,
Qianyi Liang,
Yin Yu,
Fei Chen,
Jun Yao
Affiliations
Yisi Liu
Collaborative Innovation Center of Regenerative Medicine and Medical Biological Resources Development and Application, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China
Meng Wang
Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
Yixuan Luo
Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
Qianyi Liang
Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
Yin Yu
Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
Fei Chen
Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
Jun Yao
Collaborative Innovation Center of Regenerative Medicine and Medical Biological Resources Development and Application, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China
Stem cells hold tremendous promise for the treatment of cartilage repair in osteoarthritis. In addition to their multipotency, stem cells possess immunomodulatory effects that can alleviate inflammation and enhance cartilage repair. However, the widely clinical application of stem cell therapy to cartilage repair and osteoarthritis has proven difficult due to challenges in large-scale production, viability maintenance in pathological tissue site and limited therapeutic biological activity. This review aims to provide a perspective from hydrogel-focused approach to address few key challenges in stem cell-based therapy for cartilage repair and highlight recent progress in advanced hydrogels, particularly microgels and dynamic hydrogels systems for improving stem cell survival, retention and regulation of stem cell fate. Finally, progress in hydrogel-assisted gene delivery and genome editing approaches for the development of next generation of stem cell therapy for cartilage repair in osteoarthritis are highlighted.
