Maintenance of nucleolar homeostasis by CBX4 alleviates senescence and osteoarthritis

CBX4, a component of polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), plays important roles in the maintenance of cell identity and organ development through epigenetic silencing. However, whether CBX4 regulates the homeostasis of human stem cells remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that CBX4 counteracts human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) aging via the maintenance of nucleolar homeostasis. CBX4 protein is decreased in aged hMSCs, and targeted CBX4 knockout in young hMSCs results in destabilized nucleolar heterochromatin, increased ribosome biogenesis and protein translation, and accelerated cellular senescence. CBX4 maintains nucleolar homeostasis by recruiting nucleolar protein fibrillarin and heterochromatin organization associated protein KAP1 at nucleolar rDNA, limiting the excessive expression of rRNAs. Importantly, overexpression of CBX4 alleviates physiological hMSC aging and attenuates the development of posttraumatic osteoarthritis in mice. Taken together, our findings reveal a novel role of CBX4 in counteracting senescence by maintaining nucleolar homeostasis, providing a potential therapeutic target for aging-associated disorders.