Invited Talk ESA-SRB-ANZBMS 2024 in conjunction with ENSA

A multi-stem cell basis for bone formation and skeletal disease (#54)

Matthew Greenblatt 1
  1. Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York

While prior models of skeletal progenitor cells proposed the existence of a single cellular population producing all skeletal cells, recent work has instead identified a series of site-specific skeletal stem cells. Here, we will discuss these findings, focusing specifically on the identification of a periosteal stem cell driving fracture healing, a vertebral stem cell driving spine metastases, and a calvarial stem cell driving premature skull fusion. Each of these stem cells displays a distinct capacity to produce different mature cell types, demonstrating how stem cell diversity provides a basis for the biology of different regions of the skeleton.  Conversely, these cells are united by parallels in their defining markers and the differentiation steps used in producing mature cell types. Altogether, this work identifies a new model of skeletal cellularity, with multiple populations of stem cells that each account for the physiology and signature disease processes of their respective skeletal sites.