Liu C, Jian J, Yi YF, Ding YT, Chen Y, Tang ZW, Wen J, Li YF. Skeletal stem cells, a new direction for the treatment of bone and joint diseases. World J Orthop 2025; 16(8): 108407 [DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v16.i8.108407]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jie Wen, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, No. 61 West Jiefang Road, Changsha 410013, Hunan Province, China. cashwj@qq.com
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Orthop. Aug 18, 2025; 16(8): 108407 Published online Aug 18, 2025. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v16.i8.108407
Skeletal stem cells, a new direction for the treatment of bone and joint diseases
Can Liu, Jie Jian, Yang-Fei Yi, Yi-Tong Ding, Yao Chen, Zhong-Wen Tang, Jie Wen, Yu-Fei Li
Can Liu, Yang-Fei Yi, Yi-Tong Ding, Yao Chen, Yu-Fei Li, Department of Anatomy, Hunan Normal University School of Medicine, Changsha 410005, Hunan Province, China
Jie Jian, Department of Clinical Medicine, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei Province, China
Zhong-Wen Tang, Jie Wen, Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410013, Hunan Province, China
Co-first authors: Can Liu and Jie Jian.
Co-corresponding authors: Zhong-Wen Tang and Jie Wen.
Author contributions: Liu C and Jian J contribute equally to this study, they shared co-first author; Liu C contributed to conceptualization; Jian J contributed to investigation; Yi YF contributed to formal analysis; Ding YT contributed to methodology; Chen Y contributed to data curation; Tang ZW contributed to resources; Wen J contributed to validation; Li YF contributed to supervision; Tang ZW and Wen J contribute equally to this study, they revised the paper and shared co-corresponding author.
Supported by Science Project of Hunan Provincial Healthy Commission, No. 20230844.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict-of-interest to declare.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jie Wen, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, No. 61 West Jiefang Road, Changsha 410013, Hunan Province, China. cashwj@qq.com
Received: April 14, 2025 Revised: May 1, 2025 Accepted: July 3, 2025 Published online: August 18, 2025 Processing time: 116 Days and 23.6 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Skeletal stem cells (SSCs) are tissue-specific stem cells characterized by their capacity for self-renewal and their position at the apex of the differentiation hierarchy. They can generate mature bone cell types essential for bone development, maintenance, and repair. Lineage tracing experiments have demonstrated that SSCs reside in the bone marrow, periosteum, and the resting zone of the growth plate. These findings not only enhance our understanding of bone growth and development mechanisms but also offer novel therapeutic strategies for conditions such as epiphyseal injuries, fractures, osteoarthritis (OA), and other orthopedic diseases. Recent advancements in biological scaffold technology, combined with 3D printing techniques, have facilitated bone tissue regeneration using bone stem cells. Additionally, bone stem cells have shown promise in cartilage regeneration therapy, particularly in treating degenerative diseases like OA and articular cartilage damage, thereby improving joint function. This review summarizes the latest research progress on the role of SSC in bone and joint injury regeneration and provides new insights into potential therapeutic approaches.
