Lentiviral-mediated integrin α5 expression in human adult mesenchymal stromal cells promotes bone repair in mouse cranial and long-bone defects

Adult human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) are an important source for tissue repair in regenerative medicine. Notably, targeted gene therapy in hMSCs to promote osteogenic differentiation may help in the development of novel therapeutic approaches for bone repair. We recently showed that α5 integrin (ITGA5) promotes osteoblast differentiation in bone marrow-derived hMSCs. Here, we determined whether lentiviral (LV)-mediated expression of ITGA5 in hMSCs derived from the bone-marrow stroma of healthy individuals may promote bone repair in vivo in two relevant critical-size bone defects in the mouse. In a first series of experiments, control or LV-ITGA5-transduced hMSCs were seeded on collagen-based gelatin sponge and transplanted in a cranial critical-size defect (5 mm) in Nude-Foxn1nu mice. Microcomputed tomography and quantitative histological analyses after 8 weeks showed no or little de novo bone formation in defects implanted with collagen sponge alone or with hMSCs, respectively. In contrast, implantation of collagen sponge with LV-ITGA5-transduced hMSCs showed greater bone formation compared with control hMSCs. We also tested the bone-repair potential of LV-mediated ITGA5 expression in hMSCs in a critical-size long-bone defect (2 mm) in femur in Nude-Foxn1nu mice. Bone remnants were stabilized with external fixation, and control or LV-ITGA5-transduced hMSCs mixed with coral/hydroxyapatite particles were transplanted into the critical-size long-bone defect. Histological analysis after 8 weeks showed that LV-ITGA5-transduced hMSCs implanted with particles induced 85% bone regeneration and repair. These results demonstrate that repair of critical-size mouse cranial and long-bone defects can be induced using LV-mediated ITGA5 gene expression in hMSCs, which provides a novel gene therapy for bone regeneration.