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. 2022 Jul 18:2022:2091615.
doi: 10.1155/2022/2091615. eCollection 2022.

Cebpb Regulates Skeletal Stem Cell Osteogenic Differentiation and Fracture Healing via the WNT/ β-Catenin Pathway

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Cebpb Regulates Skeletal Stem Cell Osteogenic Differentiation and Fracture Healing via the WNT/ β-Catenin Pathway

Jiansong Wang et al. Stem Cells Int. .

Abstract

Fracture is the most common traumatic organ injury, and fracture nonunion is a critical clinical challenge. The research on the mechanisms of skeletal stem cell (SSC) differentiation and fracture healing may help develop new treatment strategies and improve the prognosis of patients at high risk of nonunion. Bioinformatic analysis of scRNA-seq data of mouse SSCs and mouse osteoprogenitors was applied to discover major transcription factors for the regulation of SSC differentiation. FACS was used to isolate SSCs prospectively. The expression of Cebpb, osteogenesis-related genes (Runx2, Sp7, and Bglap2), and markers for Notch, Hedgehog, MAPK, BMP2/SMAD, and WNT/β-catenin signaling pathways (Hes1, Gli1, p-Erk1/2, p-Smad1/5/9, and β-catenin) were detected in SSCs with qPCR or western blot, respectively. Alkaline phosphatase assay and alizarin red S staining were used to illustrate the osteogenic differentiation ability of SSCs in vitro. A WNT inhibitor, IWR-1, was further used to explore the mechanism of WNT signaling in the differentiation of SSCs. Micro-CT, mechanical testing, and immunohistochemistry of osteogenic and chondrogenic proteins (Sp7 and Col2α1) were used to demonstrate the capacity of Cebpb knockdown in promoting fracture healing in a monocortical defect model. We found that Cebpb was the crucial transcription factor regulating SSC differentiation. Inhibiting Cebpb in SSCs enhanced the expression of active β-catenin to promote the expression of WNT target genes, thus facilitating the osteogenic differentiation of SSCs. Bone mass, mechanical properties, and osteogenic protein expression were also increased in the Cebpb inhibition group compared to the group without Cebpb inhibition. Collectively, our results proved that Cebpb knockdown promotes SSC osteogenic differentiation and fracture healing via the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Significant TFs during different mSSC differentiation stages. (a) t-SNE analyses on scRNA-seq data of mSSCs and mOPs. (b) A heat map shows the expression of cluster markers. (c) Top 10 biological processes from GO enrichment of significant markers. (d) A heat map shows the expression of significant TFs. (e) Venn diagram of significant markers and significant TFs. (f) Comparison of normalized Cebpb expression in mSSCs and mOPs in the GSE142873 dataset. ∗∗∗p < 0.001. (g) The relative expression of Cebpb mRNA on day 0, day 7, day 14, and day 21 of mSSC osteogenic differentiation detected by qPCR. ∗∗∗p < 0.001 compared with 0 d. Abbreviations: mOPs: mouse osteoprogenitors; mSSCs: mouse skeletal stem cells; TFs: transcription factors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Isolation and identification of mSSCs. (a) Isolation of mSSCs. (b) Growth curve of mSSCs in vitro. (c) Colony formation of mSSCs. (d) Alizarin red S staining of mSSCs. (e) Alkaline phosphatase staining of mSSCs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cebpb knockdown promoted mSSC osteogenic differentiation. (a) Expression of osteogenic differentiation markers determined by western blot in the Cebpb inhibition group and the control group. (b) Quantification of result (a). (c) Expression of osteogenic differentiation markers determined by qPCR in the Cebpb inhibition group and the control group. (d) Alizarin red S staining and alkaline phosphatase staining of mSSCs in the Cebpb inhibition group and the control group. Scale bar: 200 μm. (e) Quantification of alkaline phosphatase staining of result (d). (f) Quantification of alizarin red S staining of result (d). (g) Expression of osteogenic differentiation markers determined by western blot in the Cebpb overexpression group and the control group. (h) Quantification of result (g). (i) Expression of osteogenic differentiation markers determined by qPCR in the Cebpb overexpression group and the control group. (j) Alizarin red S staining and alkaline phosphatase staining of mSSCs in the Cebpb overexpression group and the control group. Scale bar: 200 μm. (k) Quantification of alkaline phosphatase staining of result (j). (l) Quantification of alizarin red S staining of result (j). Cebpb-sh1: mSSCs stably expressing the Cebpb-shRNA1 sequence; Cebpb-sh2: mSSCs stably expressing the Cebpb-shRNA2 sequence; Cebpb-OE: mSSCs stably expressing the Cebpb full-length cDNA sequence. p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, and ∗∗∗p < 0.001.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cebpb knockdown activated WNT signaling in mSSC osteogenic differentiation. (a) Expression of osteogenic differentiation signaling proteins determined by western blot in the Cebpb inhibition group and the control group. (b) Quantification of result (a). (c) Expression of WNT signaling and osteogenic differentiation proteins determined by western blot in the control, Cebpb inhibition, and WNT signaling inhibition groups. (d) Quantification of result (c). (e) Alizarin red S staining and alkaline phosphatase staining of mSSCs in the control, Cebpb inhibition, and WNT signaling inhibition groups. Scale bar: 200 μm. (f) Quantification of alizarin red S staining of result (e). (g) Quantification of alizarin red S staining of result (e). Cebpb-sh: mSSCs stably expressing the Cebpb-shRNA1 and Cebpb-shRNA2 sequence. p < 0.05 compared with the control group, ∗∗p < 0.01 compared with the control group, ∗∗∗p < 0.001 compared with the control group, #p < 0.05 compared with the Cebpb-sh group, ##p < 0.01 compared with the Cebpb-sh group, and ###p < 0.001 compared with the Cebpb-sh group. IWR1: inhibitor of WNT signaling.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Cebpb knockdown accelerated fracture healing. (a) Representative micro-CT 3D reconstruction pictures in the control and Cebpb-sh groups. (b) Quantification of BV/TV of result (a). (c) Biomechanical test of injured femur compared with contralateral limbs. (d) Representative IHC pictures of monocortical defect tissues in the control and Cebpb-sh groups (200x). Scale bar: 100 μm. (e) Quantification of IHC scores of result (d). BV: bone volume; TV: total volume. p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, and ∗∗∗p < 0.001.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Schematic diagram of Cebpb in regulating mSSC differentiation and fracture healing through WNT/β-catenin signaling. β-cat: β-catenin; mSSCs: mouse skeletal stem cells; mOPs: mouse osteoprogenitors; mOBs: mouse osteoblasts.

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