NUCLEAR FACTOR OF ACTIVATED T CELLS 5 (NFAT5) ENHANCES THE CHONDROGENESIS OF SYNOVIAL MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS

Cartilage destruction is a characteristic of osteoarthritis, and intra-articular cartilage has poor spontaneous repair ability due to its non-nerve-free and non-vascular characteristics, so how to carry out cartilage repair and cartilage regeneration is a major problem in the current research of osteoarthritis. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known to have multidirectional differentiation potential, while synovial mesenchymal stem cells (SMSCs) have been shown to have high proliferation rates, low immunogenicity, and strong chondrogenic differentiation potential in previous studies. There are stem cells in the articular cavity, and many methods have been applied to the study of intra-articular induction of stem cell cartilage differentiation, but there is still a lack of precise targets in this study. Nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 (NFAT5) plays a key role in a variety of cellular processes. Little is known about the role of NFAT5 in the differentiation and homeostasis of SMSCs. In this study, we found that the expression of NFAT5 in the cartilage proliferation region was significantly enhanced during the development of articular cartilage in fetal mice, and demonstrated that inhibition of NFAT5 expression by KRN2 had a significant effect on attenuating the chondrogenic differentiation of SMSCs. This finding suggests that NFAT5 may be a promising therapeutic target for cartilage regeneration.