Tendon stem/progenitor cells are promising reparative cell sources for multiple musculoskeletal injuries of concomitant articular cartilage lesions associated with ligament injuries

Background: Trauma-related articular cartilage lesions usually occur in conjunction with ligament injuries. Torn ligaments are frequently reconstructed with autologous tendon autograft and has been proven to achieve satisfactory clinical outcomes. However, effective treatments for the concomitant articular cartilage lesions are still very insufficient. The current study was aimed to evaluate whether stem/progenitor cells derived from tendon tissue can be considered as an alternative reparative cell source for cartilage repair. Methods Decellularization cartilage matrix (DCM) was used to provide a chondrogenic microenvironment for human tendon stem/progenitor cells (hTSPCs). Live/dead staining and proliferative assay demonstrated that DCM supported survival and proliferation of hTSPCs with an excellent biocompatibility. Furthermore, gene expression analysis indicated that chondrogenic differentiation of hTSPC was induced by the DCM microenvironment, without the use of exogenous growth factors. Results TSPCs are promising reparative cell sources for promoting cartilage repair. Especially, in the cohort that articular cartilage lesions occur in conjunction with ligament injuries, autologous TSPCs can be isolated from a portion of the tendon autograph harvested for ligaments reconstruction. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first article that propose to isolate TSPCs from tendon autograph for enhancing musculoskeletal repair of concomitant articular cartilage lesions associated with ligament injuries. In future clinical practice, combined ligament reconstruction with TSPCs- based therapy which isolated from tendon autograft can to be considered to achieve superior restore of these associated injuries in musculoskeletal system.