Osteogenesis of umbilical mesenchymal stem cells is enhanced in absence of DNA methyltransferase 3B (DNMT3B) through upregulating Runx2 expression.

OBJECTIVE Umbilical mesenchymal stem cells (UMSCs) is one of most popular regenerative medical source of bone replacement therapy in both clinical and scientific researches. However, it is still low effective to induce the osteogenesis of hUMSCs. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the roles of DNA methyltransferase 3B (DNMT3B) in the osteogenesis of hUMSCs. MATERIALS AND METHODS Knockdown DNMT3B in hUMSCs was gained via RNA interference technology. After confirming the decrease of DNMT3B in mutant hUMSCs by immunostaining and qPCR, osteogenesis differentiation was carried out. To identify the phenotype of osteogenesis in both bone formation ability and function of bone, immunostaining, qPCR and functional test was performed, compared to wildtype hUMSCs. RESULTS Real-time Quantitative PCR (qPCR) and immunostaining results indicated that lacking of DNTM3B the osteogenesis related genes were significantly downregulated. Meanwhile, the functional test was also consistent with the downregulated differentiation result. CONCLUSIONS The osteogenesis differentiation of hUMSCs is impaired in the absence of DNMT3B.