2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Direct reprogramming of functional human osteoblasts for periodontal tissue regeneration

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24890201
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Dental engineering/Regenerative dentistry
Research Institution	Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
Principal Investigator	YAMAMOTO Kenta 京都府立医科大学, 医学研究科, 助教 (00636160)
Project Period (FY)	2012-08-31 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	再生医療 / 骨芽細胞 / ダイレクト・リプログラミング
Research Abstract	Alveolar bone resorption associated with advanced periodontitis causes tooth loss and reduces quality of life (QOL). Transplantation of autologous osteoblasts into periodontal tissue may facilitate alveolar bone regeneration as a new cell therapy. In this study, we attempted to directly reprogram human somatic cells into osteoblast-like cells by transducing some transcription factor genes. ALP positive cells were induced from somatic cells at a high efficiency, and the resultant cells expressed osteoblast-specific factors and produced mineralized bone matrix. Moreover, the resultant cells displayed a similar gene expression profile as normal human osteoblasts. These findings suggest successful reprogramming of somatic cells directly into osteoblasts, which may provide new regenerative medicine for periodontal diseases.