The first-ever list of genes involved in tendon formation during development was established by Delphine Duprez’s team¹ and published in Development².

Tendon and ligament repair is a major challenge for orthopedic medicine. A better understanding of tendon biology at the molecular level could help improve clinical research on tendon and ligament injuries. Still, very little is known so far in that area. Delphine Duprez and her team have established for the first time the transcriptome of mouse tendon cells during development, with the aim of identifying new factors involved in tendon formation. They have thus identified a list of tendon genes during development, which constitutes an important inventory of tendon makers. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the TGFb and ERK MAPK signaling pathways are the main two pathways modified in tendon cells during development. Moreover, the TGFb/SMAD2/3 and FGF/ERK control the commitment of limb progenitor cells toward the tendon lineage.

The list of tendon markers is now available to the scientific community on the GEO website[3]. This work should help understand the molecular mechanisms underlying tendon formation and could lead to significant progress in orthopedic medicine.

[1] Muscle and tendon formation and repair, UMR 7622, IBPS.

[2] Transcriptomic analysis of mouse limb tendon cells during development, E. Havis et al. 2014. Development. 141:3683-96.

[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/

Figure: In situ hybridization on cross sections of mouse limbs using Scleraxis (Scx), a known marker of tendon, and Aquaporin 1 (Aqp1), Thrombospondin2 (Thbs2) and Thrombospondin4 (Thbs4), identified via the mouse tendon transcriptome analysis.