Paul E. Bourgine

Engineering of a functional bone organ through endochondral ossification

Embryonic development, lengthening, and repair of most bones proceed by endochondral ossification, namely through formation of a cartilage intermediate. It was previously demonstrated that adult human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hMSCs) can execute an endochondral program and ectopically generate mature bone. Here we hypothesized that hMSCs pushed through endochondral ossification can engineer a scaled-up ossicle with features of a “bone organ,” including physiologically remodeled bone, mature vasculature, and a fully functional hematopoietic compartment. Engineered hypertrophic cartilage required IL-1β to be efficiently remodeled into bone and bone marrow upon subcutaneous implantation. This model allowed distinguishing, by analogy with bone development and repair, an outer, cortical-like perichondral bone, generated mainly by host cells and laid over a premineralized area, and an inner, trabecular-like, endochondral bone, generated mainly by the human cells and formed over the cartilaginous template. Hypertrophic cartilage remodeling was paralleled by ingrowth of blood vessels, displaying sinusoid-like structures and stabilized by pericytic cells. Marrow cavities of the ossicles contained phenotypically defined hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells at similar frequencies as native bones, and marrow from ossicles reconstituted multilineage long-term hematopoiesis in lethally irradiated mice. This study, by invoking a “developmental engineering” paradigm, reports the generation by appropriately instructed hMSC of an ectopic “bone organ” with a size, structure, and functionality comparable to native bones. The work thus provides a model useful for fundamental and translational studies of bone morphogenesis and regeneration, as well as for the controlled manipulation of hematopoietic stem cell niches in physiology and pathology.

Osteoinductivity of engineered cartilaginous templates devitalized by inducible apoptosis

Significance It has been previously reported that hypertrophic cartilage tissues engineered from human mesenchymal stromal cells can efficiently remodel in vivo into bone organs, recapitulating developmental steps of endochondral ossification. We have here demonstrated that the extracellular matrix (ECM) of such engineered cartilage, even in the absence of a living cell component, retains frankly osteoinductive properties. The use of an apoptosis-driven devitalization technique revealed the importance of preserving the ECM integrity and, in particular, the embedded factors to trigger the regenerative process. Although exemplified in a skeletal context, our work outlines the general paradigm of cell-based but cell-free off-the-shelf materials capable of activating endogenous cells toward the formation of specific tissues. The role of cell-free extracellular matrix (ECM) in triggering tissue and organ regeneration has gained increased recognition, yet current approaches are predominantly based on the use of ECM from fully developed native tissues at nonhomologous sites. We describe a strategy to generate customized ECM, designed to activate endogenous regenerative programs by recapitulating tissue-specific developmental processes. The paradigm was exemplified in the context of the skeletal system by testing the osteoinductive capacity of engineered and devitalized hypertrophic cartilage, which is the primordial template for the development of most bones. ECM was engineered by inducing chondrogenesis of human mesenchymal stromal cells and devitalized by the implementation of a death-inducible genetic device, leading to cell apoptosis on activation and matrix protein preservation. The resulting hypertrophic cartilage ECM, tested in a stringent ectopic implantation model, efficiently remodeled to form de novo bone tissue of host origin, including mature vasculature and a hematopoietic compartment. Importantly, cartilage ECM could not generate frank bone tissue if devitalized by standard “freeze & thaw” (F&T) cycles, associated with a significant loss of glycosaminoglycans, mineral content, and ECM-bound cytokines critically involved in inflammatory, vascularization, and remodeling processes. These results support the utility of engineered ECM-based devices as off-the-shelf regenerative niches capable of recruiting and instructing resident cells toward the formation of a specific tissue.

Tissue decellularization by activation of programmed cell death

Decellularized tissues, native or engineered, are receiving increasing interest in the field of regenerative medicine as scaffolds or implants for tissue and organ repair. The approach, which offers the opportunity to deliver off-the-shelf bioactive materials without immuno-matching requirements, is based on the rationale that extracellular matrix (ECM)-presented cues can be potently instructive towards regeneration. However, existing decellularization protocols typically result in damage to the source ECM and do not allow the controlled preservation of its structural, biochemical and/or biomechanical features. Here we propose the deliberate activation of programmed cell death as a method to selectively target the cellular component of a tissue and thereby to preserve the integrity of the decellularized ECM. In the case of engineered tissues, the approach could be complemented by the use of (i) an immortalized cell line, engineered to undergo apoptosis upon exposure to a chemical inducer, and (ii) a perfusion bioreactor system, supporting efficient removal of cellular material. The combination of these tools may lead to the streamlined development of more appropriate materials, based on engineered and decellularized ECM and including a customized set of signals specifically designed to activate endogenous regenerative processes.

Fat-Derived Stromal Vascular Fraction Cells Enhance the Bone-Forming Capacity of Devitalized Engineered Hypertrophic Cartilage Matrix

Engineered and devitalized hypertrophic cartilage (HC) has been proposed as bone substitute material, potentially combining the features of osteoinductivity, resistance to hypoxia, capacity to attract blood vessels, and customization potential for specific indications. However, in comparison with vital tissues, devitalized HC grafts have reduced efficiency of bone formation and longer remodeling times. We tested the hypothesis that freshly harvested stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells from human adipose tissue—which include mesenchymal, endothelial, and osteoclastic progenitors—enhance devitalized HC remodeling into bone tissue. Human SVF cells isolated from abdominal lipoaspirates were characterized cytofluorimetrically. HC pellets, previously generated by human bone marrow‐derived stromal cells and devitalized by freeze/thaw, were embedded in fibrin gel with or without different amounts of SVF cells and implanted either ectopically in nude mice or in 4‐mm‐diameter calvarial defects in nude rats. In the ectopic model, SVF cells added to devitalized HC directly contributed to endothelial, osteoblastic, and osteoclastic populations. After 12 weeks, the extent of graft vascularization and amount of bone formation increased in a cell‐number‐dependent fashion (up to, respectively, 2.0‐fold and 2.9‐fold using 12 million cells per milliliter of gel). Mineralized tissue volume correlated with the number of implanted, SVF‐derived endothelial cells (CD31+ CD34+ CD146+). In the calvarial model, SVF activation of HC using 12 million cells per milliliter of gel induced efficient merging among implanted pellets and strongly enhanced (7.3‐fold) de novo bone tissue formation within the defects. Our findings outline a bone augmentation strategy based on off‐the‐shelf devitalized allogeneic HC, intraoperatively activated with autologous SVF cells.

In vitro biomimetic engineering of a human hematopoietic niche with functional properties

Significance The development of an in vitro human bone marrow (BM) tissue appears essential to compile information on human hematopoiesis. Conventional systems fail at both capturing the complexity of the bone marrow niche while allowing the maintenance of functional hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Here, we report the development of a human 3D (BM) analogue in a perfusion-based bioreactor system, partially recapitulating structural, compositional, and organizational features of the native human osteoblastic niche environment. The engineered tissue supports the maintenance of some hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) properties. This provides an advanced technological platform of broad fundamental and translational relevance, including the study of human HSPC biology and interactions with their niche, the manipulation of functional human HSPCs, or the identification of factors influencing human hematopoiesis. In adults, human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) reside in the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. Our understanding of human hematopoiesis and the associated niche biology remains limited, due to human material accessibility and limits of existing in vitro culture models. The establishment of an in vitro BM system would offer an experimentally accessible and tunable platform to study human hematopoiesis. Here, we develop a 3D engineered human BM analog by recapitulating some of the hematopoietic niche elements. This includes a bone-like scaffold, functionalized by human stromal and osteoblastic cells and by the extracellular matrix they deposited during perfusion culture in bioreactors. The resulting tissue exhibited compositional and structural features of human BM while supporting the maintenance of HSPCs. This was associated with a compartmentalization of phenotypes in the bioreactor system, where committed blood cells are released into the liquid phase and HSPCs preferentially reside within the engineered BM tissue, establishing physical interactions with the stromal compartment. Finally, we demonstrate the possibility to perturb HSPCs’ behavior within our 3D niches by molecular customization or injury simulation. The developed system enables the design of advanced, tunable in vitro BM proxies for the study of human hematopoiesis.

Delivery of cellular factors to regulate bone healing

ABSTRACT Bone tissue has a strong intrinsic regenerative capacity, thanks to a delicate and complex interplay of cellular and molecular processes, which tightly involve the immune system. Pathological settings of anatomical, biomechanical or inflammatory nature may lead to impaired bone healing. Innovative strategies to enhance bone repair, including the delivery of osteoprogenitor cells or of potent cytokines/morphogens, indicate the potential of ‘orthobiologics’, but are not fully satisfactory. Here, we review different approaches based on the delivery of regenerative cues produced by cells but in cell‐free, possibly off‐the‐shelf configurations. Such strategies exploit the paracrine effect of the secretome of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells, presented in soluble form, shuttled through extracellular vesicles, or embedded within the network of extracellular matrix molecules. In addition to osteoinductive molecules, attention is given to factors targeting the resident immune cells, to reshape inflammatory and immunity processes from scarring to regenerative patterns.

Mouse and human HSPC immobilization in liquid culture by CD43 or CD44-antibody coating

Keeping track of individual cell identifications is imperative to the study of dynamic single-cell behavior over time. Highly motile hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) migrate quickly and do not adhere, and thus must be imaged very frequently to keep cell identifications. Even worse, they are also flushed away during medium exchange. To overcome these limitations, we tested antibody coating for reducing HSPC motility in vitro. Anti-CD43- and anti-CD44-antibody coating reduced the cell motility of mouse and human HSPCs in a concentration-dependent manner. This enables 2-dimensional (2D) colony formation without cell mixing in liquid cultures, massively increases time-lapse imaging throughput, and also maintains cell positions during media exchange. Anti-CD43 but not anti-CD44 coating reduces mouse HSPC proliferation with increasing concentrations. No relevant effects on cell survival or myeloid and megakaryocyte differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells and multipotent progenitors 1-5 were detected. Human umbilical cord hematopoietic CD34+ cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation were not affected by either coating. This approach both massively simplifies and accelerates continuous analysis of suspension cells, and enables the study of their behavior in dynamic rather than static culture conditions over time.

Engineered humanized bone organs maintain human hematopoiesis in vivo

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are maintained in a specialized bone marrow (BM) environment, the so-called HSC niche, that provides pivotal factors for their maintenance. Although the cellular and molecular components of the mouse BM HSC niche have been extensively studied using genetically modified animals, relatively little is known about the counterpart human BM niche components. We previously illustrated, with a developmental tissue engineering approach, that human adult BM-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) can develop into human bone organs (so-called ossicles) through endochondral ossification in vivo and that these human ossicles are able to maintain functional mouse HSCs. We here report that human ossicles in immunodeficient mice maintain human immature and mature hematopoiesis in vivo. Moreover, a higher percentage of human stem and progenitor cells are kept in quiescence in human ossicles as compared with mouse BM. These findings indicate that the human MSC-derived ossicles function as a hematopoietic niche and may potentially serve as a re-engineerable platform to study normal and diseased human hematopoiesis in a physiologically optimized environment.