Altered physiology of mesenchymal stem cells in the pathogenesis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

Abstract

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is the most common spinal deformity during puberty, especially in females. It is characterized by aberrant skeletal growth and generalized reduced bone density, which is associated with impaired bone mineral metabolism. Despite recent progress in multidisciplinary research to support various hypotheses, the pathogenesis of Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is still not clearly understood. One of the hypothesis is to study the role of mesenchymal stem cells due to its involvement in the above-mentioned bone metabolic abnormalities. In this review, we will summarize reported literatures on the role of mesenchymal stem cells, particularly in the pathogenesis of Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. In addition, we will describe the research on mesenchymal stem cells of Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis performed using bioinformatics tools.

Keywords: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; Mesenchymal stem cell; Bioinformatics; Transcriptome; Proteome

Core tip: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a common spinal deformity that occurs in adolescent females. Despite many reports, the pathomechanism of this disease is still unclear. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that differentiate into multiple cell lineages are known to contribute to the initiation and progression of AIS, but the exact role has not been understood yet. In this review, we summarize a series of studies on the role of mesenchymal stem cells, with differential expression levels of gene, RNA, and protein, in the pathogenesis of AIS. Furthermore, we present the future perspectives on the role of MSCs in the clinical outcome of AIS.