Journal
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY
Volume 21, Issue 12, Pages 1490-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41556-019-0417-z
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Funding
- Carnegie Institution for Science
- NIH [R01AR060042, R01AR071976, R01AR072644]
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Tendon injuries cause prolonged disability and never recover completely. Current mechanistic understanding of tendon regeneration is limited. Here, we use single-cell transcriptomics to identify a tubulin polymerization-promoting protein family member 3-expressing (Tppp3(+)) cell population as potential tendon stem cells. Through inducible lineage tracing, we demonstrate that these cells can generate new tenocytes and self-renew upon injury. A fraction of Tapp3(+) cells expresses platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (Pdfgra). Ectopic platelet-derived growth factor-AA (PDGF-AA) protein induces new tenocyte production while inactivation of Pdgfra in Tapp3(+) cells blocks tendon regeneration. These results support Tapp3(+)Pdgfra(+) cells as tendon stem cells. Unexpectedly, Tapp3(-)Pdgfra(+) fibro-adipogenic progenitors coexist in the tendon stem cell niche and give rise to fibrotic cells, revealing a clandestine origin of fibrotic scars in healing tendons. Our results explain why fibrosis occurs in injured tendons and present clinical challenges to enhance tendon regeneration without a concurrent increase in fibrosis by PDGF application.
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