Abstract QS51: Skeletal Muscle Regeneration by Fibromodulin Reprogrammed Cells Without Tumorigenic Risks

PURPOSE: Skeletal muscle, one of the most commonly injured tissue, is easily lost by severe injuries from car accidents, natural disasters, or salvage surgeries for tumors. Unfortunately, the skeletal muscle mass has limited repair capacity. Direct transplantation of committed myoblasts is hindered by inadequate cell availability, limited cell spreading, and poor survivability of implanted cells. In addition, using mesenchymal stem cells for tissue regeneration is always accompanied by the painful, invasive procedures (i.e., tissue biopsy, bone marrow aspiration, and liposuction) that potentially cause severe complications or fatal outcomes. The tumorigenic risk of pluripotent cells also remains as the major concern for clinical application, and intramuscular injection is one of the most common routes for teratoma formation that validates the pluripotency in vivo in skeletal muscle regeneration. Previously, we have established a novel platform technology using a single molecule, fibromodulin (FMOD), to reprogram human dermal fibroblast into a multipotent state while circumventing oncogene usage and genome integrating. The yielded FMOD ReProgrammed (FReP) cells hold significant potential for myogenic differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. Our current study focused on its tumorigenic risk assessment.