Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Mar 16:22:9.
doi: 10.1186/s40824-018-0118-x. eCollection 2018.

Regulation of lubricin for functional cartilage tissue regeneration: a review

Yunsup Lee  1 , Jaehoon Choi  1 , Nathaniel S Hwang  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Regulation of lubricin for functional cartilage tissue regeneration: a review

Yunsup Lee et al. Biomater Res. .

Abstract

Background: Lubricin is chondrocyte-secreted glycoprotein that primarily conducts boundary lubrication between joint surfaces. Besides its cytoprotective function and extracellular matrix (ECM) attachment, lubricin is recommended as a novel biotherapeutic protein that restore functional articular cartilage. Likewise, malfunction of lubrication in damaged articular cartilage caused by complex and multifaceted matter is a major concern in the field of cartilage tissue engineering.

Main body: Although a noticeable progress has been made toward cartilage tissue regeneration through numerous approaches such as autologous chondrocyte implantation, osteochondral grafts, and microfracture technique, the functionality of engineered cartilage is a challenge for complete reconstruction of cartilage. Thus, delicate modulation of lubricin along with cell/scaffold application will expand the research on cartilage tissue engineering.

Conclusion: In this review, we will discuss the empirical analysis of lubricin from fundamental interpretation to the practical design of gene expression regulation.

Keywords: Articular cartilage; ECM; Lubricin; Superficial zone protein (SZP); Tissue engineering.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Not applicable.Not applicable.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Articular cartilage structure with the illustration of collagen fiber orientation [43]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Schematic representations of (a) lubricin and (b-c) bottle-brush polymers mimicking lubricin [42]
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Effect of synthesized aqueous lubricants on coefficient of friction (COF) with NBrMGs, SB-g-PNIPAAm, and SB-g-NBrMGs (a) of different concentration under the normal load of 5 N at 25 °C (b) under different loads (c) under the normal load of 5 N at different temperature (d) schematic diagram illustrating the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity transition of NBrMGs and SB-g-NBrMGs around the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) [56]
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
a and b, Effects of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) family members on SZP accumulation in superficial zone articular chondrocytes (a) and synoviocytes (b). Primary superficial zone articular chondrocytes and synoviocytes were cultured for 3 days as monolayers in serum-free chemically defined medium with or without the addition of BMPs or growth differentiation factor 5 (GDF-5). SZP accumulation in the culture medium was quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Responses to BMPs were much higher in synoviocytes than in chondrocytes. * = P < 0.05; ** = P < 0.01, versus control. C and D, Effects of concurrent treatment with TGFβ1 (1 ng/ml) and BMPs (100 ng/ml) on SZP accumulation in superficial zone articular chondrocytes (c) and synoviocytes (d). SZP accumulation with the combined treatment was significantly higher than that observed with each treatment alone (P < 0.05), and the additive action was seen in both superficial zone articular chondrocytes and synoviocytes. Values are the mean and SEM from 7 individual experiments, each with cartilage from a different animal. T + B2 = TGFβ1 plus BMP-2; T + B4 = TGFβ1 plus BMP-4; T + B7 = TGFβ1 plus BMP-7; T + G5 = TGFβ1 plus GDF-5 [82]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kim IL, Mauck RL, Burdick JA. Hydrogel design for cartilage tissue engineering: a case study with hyaluronic acid. Biomaterials. 2011;32(34):8771–8782. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.08.073. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ciullini Mannurita S, Vignoli M, Bianchi L, Kondi A, Gerloni V, Breda L, Ten Cate R, Alessio M, Ravelli A, Falcini F, et al. CACP syndrome: identification of five novel mutations and of the first case of UPD in the largest European cohort. Eur J Hum Genet. 2014;22(2):197–201. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2013.123. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Galle J, Bader A, Hepp P, Grill W, Fuchs B, Kas JA, Krinner A, MarquaB B, Muller K, Schiller J, et al. Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Cartilage Repair: State of the Art and Methods to monitor Cell Growth, Differentiation and Cartilage Regeneration. Curr Med Chem. 2010;17(21):2274–2291. doi: 10.2174/092986710791331095. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bedi A, Feeley BT, Williams RJ., 3rd Management of articular cartilage defects of the knee. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2010;92(4):994–1009. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.I.00895. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chung C, Burdick JA. Engineering cartilage tissue. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2008;60(2):243–262. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2007.08.027. - DOI - PMC - PubMed