Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Apr 26, 2020; 12(4): 251-265
Published online Apr 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i4.251
Overview of noncoding RNAs involved in the osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells
Wei Qiu, Bu-Ling Wu, Fu-Chun Fang
Wei Qiu, Bu-Ling Wu, Fu-Chun Fang, Department of Stomatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Fang FC and Wu BL contributed to the conception and design of the review; Qiu W contributed to the writing and drafting of the manuscript; Fang FC and Qiu W contributed to the critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all the authors have given approval of the final version to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81600882 and 81870755; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, No. 2019M663009; and President Foundation of Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 2019B002.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fu-Chun Fang, DDS, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Stomatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 1838 Guangzhou Avenue North, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China. fangfuchun520@163.com
Received: December 30, 2019
Peer-review started: December 30, 2019
First decision: February 20, 2020
Revised: March 16, 2020
Accepted: March 22, 2020
Article in press: March 22, 2020
Published online: April 26, 2020
Processing time: 118 Days and 17.8 Hours
Abstract

Periodontal diseases are infectious diseases that are characterized by progressive damage to dental support tissue. The major goal of periodontal therapy is to regenerate the periodontium destroyed by periodontal diseases. Human periodontal ligament (PDL) tissue possesses periodontal regenerative properties, and periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) with the capacity for osteogenic differentiation show strong potential in clinical application for periodontium repair and regeneration. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), which include a substantial portion of poly-A tail mature RNAs, are considered “transcriptional noise.” Recent studies show that ncRNAs play a major role in PDLSC differentiation; therefore, exploring how ncRNAs participate in the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs may help to elucidate the underlying mechanism of the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs and further shed light on the potential of stem cell transplantation for periodontium regeneration. In this review paper, we discuss the history of PDLSC research and highlight the regulatory mechanism of ncRNAs in the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs.

Keywords: Noncoding RNAs; Periodontal regeneration; Periodontal ligament stem cells; Osteogenic differentiation

Core tip: Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) are widely utilized in therapeutic applications for periodontium repair and regeneration in periodontal disease treatment. However, more evidence is required to elucidate what determines and regulates the multilineage differentiation potential of PDLSCs. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are essential elements in gene expression and signal transduction, being involved in diverse cellular processes and diseases. Concerning ncRNAs that may collectively or individually alter the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs, this review is based on current studies and aims to summarize the most significant ncRNAs identified in the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs.