Potential Marker Genes for Predicting Adipogenic Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Abstract

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a promising source for tissue engineering of soft connective tissues. However, the differentiation capacity of MSCs varies among individual cell lines. Here, we show marker genes to predict the adipogenic potential of MSCs. To clarify the correlation between gene expression patterns before adipogenic induction and the differentiation level of MSCs after differentiation, we compared mRNA levels of 95 genes and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) activities in 15 MSC lines (five jaw and 10 ilium MSCs) from 15 donors. Expression profiles of 22 genes before differentiation significantly correlated with GPDH activities after differentiation. Expression levels of 11 out of the 22 genes in highly potent ilium MSCs were at least three times higher compared with jaw MSCs, which have limited differentiation potential. Furthermore, three-dimensional scatter plot for mRNA expression of ITGA5, CDKN2D, and CD74 could completely distinguish highly potent MSCs from poorly potent MSCs for adipogenesis. The treatment of MSC cultures with the anti-ITGA5 antibody reduced adipogenic differentiation of MSCs. Collectively, these results suggest that the three genes play a role in adipogenesis before induction and can serve as predictors to select potent MSCs for adipogenic differentiation.