Generation of a tendon-like tissue from human iPS cells

Hiroki Tsutsumi; Ryota Kurimoto; Ryo Nakamichi; Tomoki Chiba; Takahide Matsushima; Yuta Fujii; Risa Sanada; Tomomi Kato; Kana Shishido; Yuriko Sakamaki; Tsuyoshi Kimura; Akio Kishida; Hiroshi Asahara

doi:10.1177/20417314221074018

Generation of a tendon-like tissue from human iPS cells

J Tissue Eng. 2022 Jan 21:13:20417314221074018. doi: 10.1177/20417314221074018. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Systems BioMedicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo City, Japan.
² Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
³ Research Core, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo City, Japan.
⁴ Department of Material-Based Medical Engineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo City, Japan.

Abstract

Tendons and ligaments are essential connective tissues that connect the muscle and bone. Their recovery from injuries is known to be poor, highlighting the crucial need for an effective therapy. A few reports have described the development of artificial ligaments with sufficient strength from human cells. In this study, we successfully generated a tendon-like tissue (bio-tendon) using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We first differentiated human iPSCs into mesenchymal stem cells (iPSC-MSCs) and transfected them with Mohawk (Mkx) to obtain Mkx-iPSC-MSCs, which were applied to a newly designed chamber with a mechanical stretch incubation system. The embedded Mkx-iPSC-MSCs created bio-tendons and exhibited an aligned extracellular matrix structure. Transplantation of the bio-tendons into a mouse Achilles tendon rupture model showed host-derived cell infiltration with improved histological score and biomechanical properties. Taken together, the bio-tendon generated in this study has potential clinical applications for tendon/ligament-related injuries and diseases.

Keywords: Mohawk (Mkx); iPS cell; mechanical-stress; tendon; tissue engineering.