Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: Advances in Chondrogenic Differentiation and Articular Cartilage Regeneration

Articular chondral lesions are major risk factors for the development of osteoarthritis (OA). Multiple adult cell-based approaches have been attempted to restore hyaline cartilage and prevent progressive degeneration; however, the formation of permanent cartilage has not yet been achieved. A scalable source of cartilage progenitors may have far-reaching potential to advance joint cartilage therapy as well as disease modeling and would be expected to facilitate the discovery of novel therapeutics to stimulate cartilage regeneration or prevent degeneration. Because of their unlimited proliferative capacity and pluripotency, human pluripotent stem cells have become an attractive therapeutic option as a source for consistently uniform cells with high chondrogenic capacity. This review focuses on the recent progress using development-based paradigms to control the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to an articular chondrocyte fate. We highlight recent findings that demonstrate the promise for using pluripotent stem cell-based replacement for hyaline cartilage repair.