- He, Ling;
- Zhou, Jian;
- Chen, Mo;
- Lin, Chyuan-Sheng;
- Kim, Sahng G;
- Zhou, Yue;
- Xiang, Lusai;
- Xie, Ming;
- Bai, Hanying;
- Yao, Hai;
- Shi, Changcheng;
- Coelho, Paulo G;
- Bromage, Timothy G;
- Hu, Bin;
- Tovar, Nick;
- Witek, Lukasz;
- Wu, Jiaqian;
- Chen, Kenian;
- Gu, Wei;
- Zheng, Jinxuan;
- Sheu, Tzong-Jen;
- Zhong, Juan;
- Wen, Jin;
- Niu, Yuting;
- Cheng, Bin;
- Gong, Qimei;
- Owens, David M;
- Stanislauskas, Milda;
- Pei, Jasmine;
- Chotkowski, Gregory;
- Wang, Sainan;
- Yang, Guodong;
- Zegarelli, David J;
- Shi, Xin;
- Finkel, Myron;
- Zhang, Wen;
- Li, Junyuan;
- Cheng, Jiayi;
- Tarnow, Dennis P;
- Zhou, Xuedong;
- Wang, Zuolin;
- Jiang, Xinquan;
- Romanov, Alexander;
- Rowe, David W;
- Wang, Songlin;
- Ye, Ling;
- Ling, Junqi;
- Mao, Jeremy
Cells are transplanted to regenerate an organs' parenchyma, but how transplanted parenchymal cells induce stromal regeneration is elusive. Despite the common use of a decellularized matrix, little is known as to the pivotal signals that must be restored for tissue or organ regeneration. We report that Alx3, a developmentally important gene, orchestrated adult parenchymal and stromal regeneration by directly transactivating Wnt3a and vascular endothelial growth factor. In contrast to the modest parenchyma formed by native adult progenitors, Alx3-restored cells in decellularized scaffolds not only produced vascularized stroma that involved vascular endothelial growth factor signalling, but also parenchymal dentin via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. In an orthotopic large-animal model following parenchyma and stroma ablation, Wnt3a-recruited endogenous cells regenerated neurovascular stroma and differentiated into parenchymal odontoblast-like cells that extended the processes into newly formed dentin with a structure-mechanical equivalency to native dentin. Thus, the Alx3-Wnt3a axis enables postnatal progenitors with a modest innate regenerative capacity to regenerate adult tissues. Depleted signals in the decellularized matrix may be reinstated by a developmentally pivotal gene or corresponding protein.