Gene expression profile analysis of human mesenchymal stem cells from herniated and degenerated intervertebral discs reveals different expression of osteopontin - Lipogems

Abstract

Gene expression analysis provides an effective methodology to identify clinically relevant genes implicated in intervertebral disc (IVD) pathology. The analysis of gene profile in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from human herniated IVD (H-IVD) and degenerated IVD (D-IVD) has not yet been investigated. We present in this study a characterization of MSCs isolated from clinically categorized H-IVD and D-IVD disc samples. H-IVD-MSCs and D-IVD-MSCs showed multipotent mesenchymal differentiation ability, expressing positivity for adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic markers with an immunophenotypical profile representative of MSCs. FACS analyses revealed a higher expression of CD44 in D-IVD-MSCs compared to H-IVD-MSCs. Gene expression profile revealed that most genes under investigation displayed large variations and were not significantly different in the two types of analyzed IVD-MSCs …