Cell Fate Manipulation for Bone and Cartilage Reconstruction

Dear Colleagues,

Bone and cartilage damage can be caused by osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and bone fractures, issues which can lead to severe pain, restricted mobility and compromised quality of life. In recent years, the development of methods to reconstruct the bone and cartilage through tissue engineering has provided promising solutions with which to restore the inherent function of bone and cartilage. Notably, increasing evidence has revealed the critical role of cell fate manipulation in functional bone and cartilage reconstruction. Specifically, the process behind these development involves redirecting the differentiation of multipotent stem cells towards a specific lineage via biophysical and/or biochemical strategies in order to facilitate tissue repair and regeneration. For example, biochemical factors such as bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) have been shown to promote osteogenic differentiation, while transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) has been found capable of stimulating chondrogenic differentiation. In addition, biomimetic structures (e.g., hyperboloid topology) can exert unique biophysical cues in order to guide osteoblast and/or chondrocyte maturation, enhancing tissue regeneration in the process. In all, these cell fate manipulation strategies have successfully reconstructed bone and cartilage with the vivid recapitulation of intact and complex functions, shedding new light on translational tissue-engineered organs in the efforts to address the clinic problems.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to present state-of-the-art cell fate manipulation approaches for bone and cartilage reconstruction. We encourage researchers in the field to make contributions, including original research articles, reviews and short communications.

Dr. Yuhe Yang
Dr. Qian Wang
Guest Editors

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• bone and cartilage reconstruction
• cell fate
• biophysical cues
• biochemical cues
• stem cells
• extracellular vesicles