ObjectiveTo review the research progress and application prospects of Kartogenin (KGN) in cartilage repair and tissue engineering. Methods Through a literature review, the mechanisms of KGN in cartilage repair, biomaterial composite strategies, and the resulting repair effectivenes were sorted out. ResultsKGN regulates multiple signaling pathways to induce mesenchymal stem cells differentiation into chondrocytes, maintain chondrocyte phenotypes, inhibit chondrocyte senescence, and promote the secretion of extracellular matrix. KGN also forms high-efficiency scaffolds with various materials, suitable for tissue engineering scaffolds of different anatomical sites and defect types, and exhibits significant cartilage regenerative effectiveness in vitro and small animal models. ConclusionOverall, KGN shows great application potential in cartilage tissue engineering. However, clinical translation still faces many challenges, which represents a key direction for future research.
