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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Oper Tech Orthop. 2016 Jun;26(2):68–72. doi: 10.1053/j.oto.2015.12.008

Application of Tendon Stem/Progenitor Cells and Platelet-Rich Plasma to Treat Tendon Injuries

James H-C Wang 1,#, Xavier Nirmala 1
PMCID: PMC5000850  NIHMSID: NIHMS779417  PMID: 27574378

Abstract

Tendon injuries like tendinopathy are a serious healthcare problem in the United States. However, current treatments for tendon injuries are largely palliative. Biologics treatments, including tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSCs) and platelet rich plasma (PRP) hold great potential to effectively treat tendon injuries. TSCs are tendon specific stem cells and have the ability to differentiate into tenocytes, the resident tendon cells responsible for tendon homeostasis and tendon repair in case of an injury. TSCs can also self-renew and thus can replenish the tendon with tendon cells (TSCs and tenocytes) to maintain a healthy tendon. The action of PRP can be complementary; PRP can augment and accelerate tendon healing by supplying abundant growth factors contained in platelets, and fibrin matrix, which functions as a natural conducive scaffold to facilitate tissue healing. This article provides a summary of the findings in recent basic and clinical studies on the applications of TSCs and PRP to the treatment of tendon injuries. It also outlines the challenges facing their applications in clinical settings. In particular, the controversy surrounding the efficacy of PRP treatment for tendon injuries are analyzed and solutions are suggested.

Introduction

Tendon injuries are highly prevalent in athletic settings with an estimated 40–50% of athletes getting tendon injuries (1–3). However, tendon injuries are also common in occupational settings and in the aged population. Among the work-related injuries reported in hospitals in the Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States from 2001–2010 about 25% accounted for acute tendon injuries of the hands and wrists alone (4). In the aging population ~15% aged 50–59 years and ~51% aged 80 years and above are estimated to experience tendon injuries (5).

Tendons are fibrous connective tissues containing 65–80% collagen type I, and elastin, proteoglycans, glycoproteins, and water in smaller amounts within tendon cells (6, 7). Since tendons link bones to muscles, they are designed to withstand mechanical loads, namely, the muscular loads. However, excessive or repetitive loads have a bearing on tendons and cause tendon injuries (2, 8–10). When exposed to these abnormal loading conditions, cellular activities in tendons are modified resulting in structural changes that finally compromise tendon function. In general two types of tendon injuries have been recognized: acute and chronic injuries. Acute injuries are tendon damages caused by mechanical over-loads on the tendon. Chronic injuries, often called tendinopathies, are mainly degenerative changes in the tendon caused, at least in sport settings, by mechanical over-use of the tendon.

After a tendon injury, natural healing takes place. However, the tendon healing is a slow and inefficient process, which does not restore the normal biological and biomechanical properties to injured tendons. Consequently, patients more often are unable to return their normal activities to pre-injury levels (11, 12). More importantly, the repaired region especially in returning athletes is at a higher risk for re-injury (13).

Despite its prevalence there is no consensus on the treatment method and management of tendon injuries. Most interventions are conventional and are limited to treating only the pain and inflammation symptoms using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (14, 15), cryotherapy (16, 17), physiotherapy (11, 18), etc. Thus, there is a pressing need for better treatment options to restore the normal tendon structure and function of an injured tendon.

In recent years, the application of biological treatments or tissue engineering approaches is being eagerly sought for the treatment of tendon injuries. Among them, the use of stem cells particularly tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSCs) and platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) may have the most potential to improve the healing of injured tendons. Many studies have indicated that these two biologics treatments can augment the healing of tendon injuries. This review briefs the findings from these studies and provides discussion on the use of these biologics treatments to effectively repair injured tendons and subsequently improve tendon structure and function thus enabling patients to return quickly to work and sporting activities.

Use of TSCs to treat tendon injuries

Until recently a common misconception about tendons was that they are made of one kind of cells namely tenocytes. However, recent studies have shown that about 5% of the tendon cells are TSCs, which are tendon-specific stem cells present in the tendons of mice, rabbits, rats and humans (19–22). In several characteristics, TSCs differ from tenocytes, which are dominant residential cells in tendons. These include: 1) Morphology: TSCs in culture are more cobble-stone shaped with larger nuclei while the tenocytes are more elongated and have smaller nuclei (20); 2) Proliferation: TSCs grow faster than tenocytes in vitro; 3) Stemness: TSCs in culture express stem cell markers, Oct-4, SSEA-1 & 4 and nucleostemin (NS), which are not expressed by tenocytes (9, 20); and 4) Multi-differentiation: TSCs have the ability to differentiate into tenocytes as well as into several non-tendon cell types including adipocytes, chondrocytes and osteocytes (19, 20).

Recent years have seen an increased interest in the use of adult stem cells in biologics treatments for tendon injuries. For example, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used to treat tendon defects in rabbit Achilles (23) and patellar tendons (24, 25), blood derived stem cells (BDSCs) were used to successfully treat equine superficial digital flexor tendon injuries (26) and adipose derived stem cells (ASCs) to repair rabbit flexor tendons (27). Therefore, it is reasonable to presume that TSCs, which are tendon specific stem cells can be used to effectively repair tendon injuries. Besides, a comparison of properties between TSCs and MSCs, the most commonly used stem cells for biologics treatment, revealed that TSCs had higher clonogenicity, better proliferation potential, induced formation of more chondrocyte-like cells and higher accumulation of glycosaminoglycan than MSCs in vitro. TSCs also expressed higher levels of a stem cell marker (Oct-4), tenocyte markers (scleraxis, tenomodulin, decorin and collagen type I), chondrogenic markers (collagen type II and biglycan) and an osteogenic marker (alkaline phosphatase) (28).

However, the beneficial effects of TSCs on tendon injuries have only started to emerge. Recently were TSCs shown to promote the repair of a patellar tendon window defect model in rats by increasing collagen production and improving the alignment of collagen fibers, Young’s modulus and ultimate stress (29). In addition, transplantation of scleraxis-transduced TSCs promoted healing of a rat patellar tendon window injury at early stages (28). Furthermore, combining TSCs with PRP resulted in higher collagen type I mRNA synthesis in rats with Achilles tendon injury (30). Similar to TSCs, autologous tenocytes (likely a mixture of tenocytes and TSCs) in rabbits also augmented the healing and remodeling of rotator cuff tears (31), and improved histological outcomes and increased collagen content thereby healing chronic Achilles tendinopathy (32). More importantly, the tensile strength of the Achilles tendons was higher after treatment with both TSCs and PRP(32).

Treatment of tendon injuries using TSC therapy still is in a nascent stage. To become a successful therapy, a number of challenges have to be overcome. First, it is necessary to obtain a sufficient number of authentic TSCs for use in therapy. This challenge will be overcome by methods that prolong the stemness of TSCs in culture and expanding them effectively. A recent study reported that culturing TSCs along with insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) for 28 days retained multipotency in TSCs, and upregulated decorin and scleraxis expression (33). In addition, hypoxic culture conditions and low levels of PGE2 could also enhance the stemness of TSCs in culture (34, 35). Second, the age of the donor might significantly affect the outcome of TSC treatments. Aging decreases the number of TSCs (21), and their proliferation potential and expression of stem cell markers (6) in animals. A 70% reduction in the number of TSCs was noted in ~ 24 months old rats when compared to ~ 3 months old rats (21), TSCs from 9 months old mice proliferated 3.5 times slower than TSCs from 2.5 months old mice and also had low levels of stem cell markers (6). Third, TSC therapy outcome may vary depending on TSC stemness, patient age, delivery techniques, etc. Moreover, the viability of the injected or implanted TSCs at present cannot be monitored. Therefore, new protocols and strategies to safely monitor the TSCs used for treatment should be developed. The popular mode of direct TSCs injection into the injured tendons for cell therapy may result in cell death and reduce the treatment efficacy. Therefore, it is desirable to use biocompatible carriers such as platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) along with TSCs to protect cells and stimulate them to proliferate and differentiate in the treatment sites.

Use of PRP to treat tendon injuries

PRP is now a popular method used to treat tendon injuries particularly in professional athletes. As its name indicates, PRP is rich in platelets containing numerous growth factors that are necessary for tissue healing. These include platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), fibroblastic growth factor (FGF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) (36). Besides, PRP forms a tissue specific scaffold that is conducive for cell migration and new matrix formation (8, 37). As a promising healing agent, PRP is widely used orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine to augment the healing of injured musculoskeletal tissues, including tendons and ligaments (38).

In clinical applications, PRP treatment via injections improved the pain intensity and functional ability scores in patients with elbow tendinopathy (46–48), Achilles tendinopathy (49, 50) (51)and patellar tendinopathy (52, 53).

Besides PRP injections, PRP treatment can also be achieved by implantation of PRP gels, which may be superior to injections and yield better treatment outcomes because the PRP gel may stay in place without potential diffusion from the treated area. It has been reported that implanting PRP gel, called platelet-rich fibrin matrices (PRFM), into Achilles tendon tears in athletes improved the range of motion and function quicker than in those who received open suture repair (54). Similarly, implantation of PRFM along with acellular porcine dermal patch (APD) effectively healed acute Achilles tendon rupture in sheep by inducing the formation of new tendon fibers (55).

However, the efficacy of PRP on tendon injuries in clinical trials has not been consistent. A number of studies have also reported no benefits in the clinical outcomes after PRP treatment (49, 56, 57). These discrepancies are thought to be cause by two major factors; PRP-associated and patient-related (36). The PRP-associated factors include the following: 1) PRP composition: the presence or absence of white blood cells (WBCs) in PRP preparations; 2) Platelet concentration: low or high platelet concentration relative to the level in whole blood; 3) PRP status: activated or non-activated; 5) Delivery method: injection or implantation; and 6) Number of PRP treatments: one time injection or multiple injections. Patient-associated factors include: 1) Age: young or old; 2) Type of tendon injury: acute or chronic; 3) Patient activity level: active or passive; 4) Treatment history: prior treatments, surgeries, etc.; and 5) Post-recovery plans: rehabilitation or no-physiotherapy.

Among the many factors influencing the clinical outcomes of PRP treatment for tendon injuries, the most important may be the age. This is because in aging patients, fewer stem cells are present in tissues. In tendons, the fewer TSCs may be of poor quality due to impaired proliferative ability and reduced stemness (6) that may diminish PRP treatment efficacy because PRP exerts its effects through its effect on TSCs; in other words PRP application alone is not sufficient to promote healing of injured tendons. Therefore, in aging patients, PRP treatment efficacy is not expected to be high. To mitigate this problem, it is recommended that aging patients perform moderate exercise to increase the number of stem cells. It has been shown that moderate exercise through treadmill running increases the number of TSCs in aging mouse tendons and improve the degenerative changes in aging tendons by decreasing lipid deposition, proteoglycan accumulation and calcification (6).

Another important factor affecting the efficacy of PRP treatment for tendinopathy (i.e. chronic tendon injury) is the disease stage of tendinopathy. Early stage tendinopathy is characterized by inflammation and/or nascent abnormal tissue differentiation (or formation of non-tendinous tissues at early stages) in the affected tendon. Therefore, PRP injection may be used to suppress tendon inflammation and hence reduce tendon pain, thus enhancing tendon function in patients. Indeed, the HGF in PRP was shown to have anti-inflammatory function (58) and PRP can suppress the non-tenocyte differentiation of TSCs at early stages (59).

However, when tendinopathy is in later stages, when the tendon is severely degenerated and contains lipid deposits, proteoglycan accumulation and calcification, either alone or in combination (60), PRP injection may be less effective because PRP itself cannot improve tendon degeneration. In this case, tissue debridement should be performed to improve the degenerative environment so that TSCs can self-renew and differentiate normally; that is, daughter TSCs and/or tenocytes can be produced because of corrected "niche" environment for TSCs (19, 61) (62). This, followed by PRP gel implantation is expected to improve tendon function in late stage tendinopathy (54).

It should be noted that studies that determine the efficacy of PRP treatment on tendon injuries (e.g. tendinopathy) in humans are also limited by unavoidable subjective evaluation of PRP treatment effects such as pain and functional scores by patients. Besides, as mentioned above, the patient population is typically heterogeneous due to differences in ages, gender, treatment history, activity level, etc. All these reduce the statistical power to detect the treatment effects when existent. Therefore, these limitations in human studies may be best addressed by performing well-controlled basic studies on animal models that produce more consistent results as discussed above.

Finally, a common theme stemming from previous PRP studies is that the use of ‘one’ PRP preparation in a commercial "one-size-fits-all" approach may not be optimal to treat all types of tendon injuries in patients of all ages. Patients can obtain the highest benefit from PRP treatments if the protocol is optimized based on individual age, treatment history, activity level and injury type.

The combined use of TSCs and PRP to treat tendon injuries

Basic science studies on animal models show consistent outcomes of PRP treatment based on the cellular and molecular responses of tendons and tendon cells. Increase in the number of cells and collagen production were reported in tendons after PRP treatment (39–41). More relevant to this review is the impact of PRP on TSCs. PRP releasate was shown to induce anabolic differentiation of TSCs into tenocytes, which proliferated quickly and produced abundant collagen (39). In two recent studies, the effect of PRP along with TSCs was tested on injured or tendinopathic rat Achilles tendons. The results showed higher scleraxis, collagen type I and tenascin C mRNA in rats treated with a combination of PRP and TSCs indicating that combining the two components may have synergistic effects (30, 43). The tissue specific scaffold formed by PRP may stimulate TSC proliferation and differentiation into tenocytes thus augmenting the healing of injured tendons. This synergistic effect of PRP has also been reported for combination with cells and extracellular components. For example, injection of PRP with MSCs into rabbit mandibles improved bone formation, mineralization and the mechanical properties (44). Similarly, PRP, when combined with collagen, also significantly healed wounds in the porcine anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and improved the load at yield, maximum load, and linear stiffness (45). These findings indicate that the tissue scaffold formed by PRP could enhance the healing ability of stem cells in the treatment of tissue injuries.

Concluding Remarks

Tendon injuries are common in both athletic and occupational settings. Current treatments are however ineffective and cannot restore the normal tendon structure and function effectively. Therefore, alternative methods are eagerly pursued. Biologics treatments such as cell therapy with TSCs and cell free therapy with PRP have the potential to effectively repair or even regenerate tendons after injury. Challenges facing TSC therapy for tendon injuries are numerous, including the generation of sufficient number of authentic TSCs in vitro and the optimal means to deliver TSCs to the injury site so that cells are survival and functional in the new healing environment. On the other hand, autologous PRP is already in use in clinics for the treatment of tendon injuries. PRP provides a natural conductive scaffold, and also contains abundant growth factors (e.g. PDGF, TGF-β, VEGF, IGF, and HGF), which can enhance healing of injured tendons. PRP treatment was shown to induce TSC differentiation into active tenocytes, which proliferate quickly and produce abundant collagen, indicating the potential of PRP to enhance the repair of injured tendons (39). Therefore, the combined use of TSCs and PRP has great potential for effective cell therapy of tendon injuries.

Moreover, PRP was also shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects on injured tendons (58), which may explain why PRP injections can reduce tendon pain. However, the efficacy of PRP treatment for tendon injuries remains a hotly debated topic in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. The efficacy issue of PRP is believed to be due to PRP-associated factors and patient-related factors (36). Therefore, a PRP application approach tailored for individual needs instead of the current "one-size-fits-all" approach should be used in clinics to treat tendon injuries. Lastly, the rehabilitation protocol following such biologics treatments should also be customized to an individual to promote full recovery of tendons; in fact, it is a prerequisite to apply mechanical loading on healing tendons in order for PRP to enhance the healing outcome of injured tendons (63).

Acknowledgments

Funding support from NIH grants AR049921, AR061395 and AR065949 (JHW) is gratefully acknowledged.

Abbreviations

TSCs

Tendon stem cell/progenitor cells

PRP

Platelet Rich Plasma

MSCs

Mesenchymal Stem Cells

ASCs

Adipose-derived Stem Cells

IGF-1

Insulin-like Growth Factor-1

VEGF

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

TGF-β

Transforming Growth Factor β

HGF

Hepatocyte Growth Factor

PDGF

Platelet Derived Growth Factor

EGF

Epidermal Growth Factor

FGF

Fibroblastic Growth Factor

BDSCs

Blood Derived Stem Cells

Footnotes

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