Ablation of Ephrin B2 in Col2 Expressing Cells Delays Fracture Repair

Abstract Ephrin B2 is critical for endochondral bone development. In this study, we investigated its role in fracture repair by deleting ephrin B2 in type II collagen (Col.2) expressing cells. We used a nonstable tibia fracture model to evaluate fracture repair at 3 sites: intramembranous bone formation, endochondral bone formation, and intramedullary bone formation. We observed that during fracture repair, deletion of ephrin B2 impaired periosteal stem cell activation, inhibited their proliferation, decreased their survival, and blocked their differentiation into osteoblasts and chondrocytes. In addition, deletion of ephrin B2 decreased vascular endothelial growth factor production as well as vascular invasion into the fracture site. These changes led to reduced cartilage to bone conversion in the callus with decreased new bone formation, resulting in impaired fracture repair. Our data indicate that ephrin B2 in Col2-expressing cells is a critical regulator of fracture repair, pointing to a new and potentially targetable mechanism to enhance fracture repair.