Transcriptome profiling of cartilage progenitor cells over-expressing miR-138 or miR-181a/b-1 during chondrogenic induction

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of miR-138 or miR-181a/b-1 on regulating chondrogenesis. Gene expression profiles were analyzed in human cartilage progenitor cells (CPCs) over-expressing either miR-138 or miR-181a/b-1 following 7 days of chondrogenic induction in high cell density pellet cultures under hypoxic conditions (5% O2). CPCs were isolated from human osteoarthritic articular cartilage and over-expression of miR-138 or miR-181a/b-1 was achieved via lentiviral transduction of the precursor form of miR-138 or miR-181a/b-1. Control CPCs were transduced with lentivirus expressing a non-silencing (NS) control RNA sequence. Total RNA was harvested at day 7 of chondrogenic induction and subjected to RNA-Seq analysis. Quadruplet samples of cartilage progenitor cells at P6-7 were transduced with lentivirus expressing either precuror miR-138, precursor miR-181/b-1, or a non-silencing (NS) control precursor RNA. High cell density pellet cultures were formed using transduced cells and the pellets were then induced to undergo chondrogenic differentiation under hypoxia (5% O2). At day 7 following chondrogenic induction, total RNA was isolated and processed for high throughput RNA sequencing.