Gene expression profiling suggests a pathological role of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in aging-related skeletal diseases

Aging is associated with bone loss and degenerative joint diseases, in which the aging of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (bmMSC)[1] may play an important role. In this study, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of bmMSC from 14 donors between 36 and 74 years old, and obtained age-associated genes (in the background of osteoarthritis) and osteoarthritis-associated genes (in the background of old age). Pathway analysis of these genes suggests that alterations in glycobiology might play an important role in the aging of human bmMSC. On the other hand, antigen presentation and signaling of immune cells were the top pathways enriched by osteoarthritis-associated genes, suggesting that alteration in immunology of bmMSC might be involved in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Most intriguingly, we found significant age-associated differential expression of HEXA, HEXB, CTSK, SULF1, ADAMTS5, SPP1, COL8A2, GPNMB, TNFAIP6, and RPL29; those genes have been implicated in the bone loss and the pathology of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in aging. Collectively, our results suggest a pathological role of bmMSC in aging-related skeletal diseases, and suggest the possibility that alteration in the immunology of bmMSC might also play an important role in the etiology of adult-onset osteoarthritis.