Departments of Regenerative Medicine and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0004, Japan.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 30;108(35):14479-84. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1109767108. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
Despite the great demands for treating craniofacial injuries or abnormalities, effective treatments are currently lacking. One promising approach involves human elastic cartilage reconstruction using autologous stem/progenitor populations. Nevertheless, definitive evidence of the presence of stem cells in human auricular cartilage remains to be established. Here, we demonstrate that human auricular perichondrium, which can be obtained via a minimally invasive approach, harbors a unique cell population, termed as cartilage stem/progenitor cells (CSPCs). The clonogenic progeny of a single CD44(+) CD90(+) CSPC displays a number of features characteristic of stem cells. Highly chondrogenic CSPCs were shown to reconstruct large (>2 cm) elastic cartilage after extended expansion and differentiation. CSPC-derived cartilage was encapsulated by a perichondrium layer, which contains a CD44(+) CD90(+) self-renewing stem/progenitor population and was maintained without calcification or tumor formation even after 10 mo. This is a unique report demonstrating the presence of stem cells in auricular cartilage. Utilization of CSPCs will provide a promising reconstructive material for treating craniofacial defects with successful long-term tissue restoration.
尽管人们对治疗颅面损伤或畸形的需求很大，但目前仍缺乏有效的治疗方法。一种很有前途的方法是使用自体干细胞/祖细胞群体来重建人弹性软骨。然而，目前仍需确定人耳软骨中是否存在干细胞。在这里，我们证明了可以通过微创方法获得的人耳软骨膜中存在一种独特的细胞群体，称为软骨干细胞/祖细胞（CSPCs）。单个 CD44(+) CD90(+) CSPC 的克隆后代具有许多干细胞的特征。经过长时间的扩增和分化，具有高度成软骨能力的 CSPC 可以重建大 (>2 cm) 弹性软骨。CSPC 衍生的软骨被软骨膜层包裹，其中包含一个 CD44(+) CD90(+) 自我更新的干细胞/祖细胞群体，即使在 10 个月后也没有发生钙化或肿瘤形成。这是一项独特的报告，证明了耳软骨中存在干细胞。CSPC 的利用将为治疗颅面缺陷提供一种有前途的重建材料，实现成功的长期组织修复。
