In vitro bone-like nodules generated from patient-derived iPSCs recapitulate pathological bone phenotypes

The recapitulation of bone formation via the in vitro generation of bone-like nodules is frequently used to understand bone development. However, current bone-induction techniques are slow and difficult to reproduce. Here, we report the formation of bone-like nodules within ten days, via the use of retinoic acid (RA) to induce the osteogenic differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) into osteoblast-like and osteocyte-like cells that create human bone tissue when implanted in calvarial defects in mice. We also show that the induction of bone formation depends on cell signalling through the RA receptors RAR alpha and RAR beta, which simultaneously activate the BMP (bone morphogenetic protein) and Wnt signalling pathways. Moreover, by using patient-derived hiPSCs, the bone-like nodules recapitulated the osteogenesis-imperfecta phenotype, which was rescued via the correction of disease-causing mutations and partially by an mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) inhibitor. The method of inducing bone nodules may serve as a fast and reproducible model for the study of the formation of both healthy and pathological bone.