Department of Physiology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon 16499, Republic of Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Nov 1;25(21):11745. doi: 10.3390/ijms252111745.
Rotator cuff tears (RCT) are the most common cause of shoulder pain among adults. "Rotator cuff" refers to the four muscles that cover the shoulder joint: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor. These muscles help maintain the rotational movement and stability of the shoulder joint. RCT is a condition in which one or more of these four muscles become ruptured or damaged, causing pain in the arms and shoulders. RCT results from degenerative changes caused by chronic inflammation of the tendons and consequent tendon tissue defects. This phenomenon occurs because of the exhaustion of endogenous tendon stem cells. Tendon regeneration requires rejuvenation of these endogenous tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) prior to their growth phase. TSPCs exhibit clonogenicity, multipotency, and self-renewal properties; they express classical stem cell markers and genes associated with the tendon lineage. However, specific markers for TSPC are yet to be identified. In this review, we introduce novel TSPC markers and discuss various strategies for TSPC reprogramming. With further research, TSPC reprogramming technology could be adapted to treat age-related degenerative diseases, providing a new strategy for regenerative medicine.
肩袖撕裂（RCT）是成年人肩部疼痛的最常见原因。“肩袖”是指覆盖肩关节的四块肌肉：冈上肌、冈下肌、肩胛下肌和小圆肌。这些肌肉有助于维持肩关节的旋转运动和稳定性。RCT 是指这四块肌肉中的一块或多块发生破裂或损伤，导致手臂和肩部疼痛。RCT 是由肌腱的慢性炎症引起的退行性变化导致的，继而导致肌腱组织缺陷。这种现象的发生是由于内源性肌腱干细胞的耗竭。在肌腱再生之前，需要对这些内源性肌腱干细胞/祖细胞（TSPC）进行再激活，以进入生长阶段。TSPC 具有克隆性、多能性和自我更新特性；它们表达经典的干细胞标志物和与肌腱谱系相关的基因。然而，TSPC 的特定标志物尚未被确定。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了新的 TSPC 标志物，并讨论了各种 TSPC 重编程策略。随着进一步的研究，TSPC 重编程技术可以被用于治疗与年龄相关的退行性疾病，为再生医学提供了新的策略。
