Role of Irx3 in chondrogenic differentiation and chondrocyte maturation of mouse mesenchymal cells

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26462805
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Morphological basic dentistry
• Research Institution: Mukogawa Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Tamamura Yoshihiro 武庫川女子大学, 健康・スポーツ科学部, 博士研究員 (70431963)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): WAKITANI Shigeyuki 武庫川女子大学, 健康スポーツ科学部, 教授 (70243243) ; MERA Hisashi 新潟大学, 地域医療教育センター魚沼基幹病院, 講師 (70650381)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: Irx3 / 軟骨細胞 / Wntシグナル / p38シグナル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Sox9 is known to be a master regulator of cartilage development. In this study, we attempted to identify genes involved in Sox9-independent regulatory mechanisms of chondrocyte differentiation and focused on Irx3. Irx3 expression gradually increased with chondrocyte terminal differentiation and promoted the chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal cells upon Bmp2 treatment. Irx3 partially rescued impaired chondrogenesis via upregulating the expression of epiphycan and lumican by activating the p38 MAPK pathway under reduced Sox9 expression. Moreover, Irx3 stimulates chondrocyte maturation by Wnt signaling. This function of Irx3 might be resulted in part from activation of Wnt signaling augmented by R-spondin1-Lgr6 interaction. These results indicate that Irx3 represents a novel regulatory factor of chondrocyte differentiation and regulates chondrogenesis independent of the transcriptional machinery associated with Sox9-mediated regulation.

Free Research Field

分子生物学