In a second phase, between day 7 and day 14, IVD cells combined with DWJM showed a down-regulation of SOX2 and SOX9 together with an up-regulation of TRPS1, a chondrogenic transcription factor previously identified by us as chondroprotective and associated with the lower grade of disc degeneration (Penolazzi et al., 2019). Here, SOX2 is linked to intervertebral disk degenerative disorder.