Project description:Osteoarthritis (OA) of spine (facet joints; FJ) is one of the major causes of severe low back pain and disability worldwide. The degeneration of facet cartilage is a hallmark of FJ OA. However, endogenous mechanisms that initiate degeneration of facet cartilage are unknown and there are no disease-modifying therapies to stop FJ OA. In this study we performed microRNA array analysis to identify differentially expressed microRNAs in facet cartilage from patients with FJ OA compared to facet cartilage from patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH).
Project description:Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that involves destruction of articular cartilage and eventually leads to disability. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) reside in healthy and diseased cartilage, and through their chondrogenic potential may provide a strategy for cartilage repair. To this end, we performed an image-based, high throughput screen and identified the small molecule, kartogenin, that promotes selective MSC differentiation into chondrocytes (EC50=100nM), shows chondroprotective effects in vitro, and is efficacious in two OA animal models. Kartogenin binds filamin A and induces chondrogenesis by regulating the CBFbeta-RUNX1 transcriptional program. This work provides new insights into the control of chondrogenesis that may ultimately lead to an effective stem-cell based therapy for osteoarthritis. one compound, three doses, two time points, a vehicle control
Project description:Osteoarthritis is characterized by degeneration of cartilage and bone in the synovial joints. Recent findings suggest that inflammation may play a role in osteoarthritis, with synovitis being associated with the clinical symptoms of osteoarthritis. Furthermore, we have found that levels of inflammatory complement components are abnormally high in the synovial fluid of individuals with osteoarthritis. To determine whether synovial membranes could be a source of complement and other inflammatory molecules in osteoarthritic joints, we characterized the expression of genes in synovial membranes from patients with early-stage or end-stage osteoarthritis. Samples of synovial membrane were obtained from the suprapatellar pouch of patients with osteoarthritis who were treated at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Specifically, samples were from 10 patients with early-stage knee osteoarthritis who were undergoing arthroscopic procedures for degenerative meniscal tears (with documented cartilage degeneration but no full-thickness cartilage loss, Kellgren Lawrence score </=2), and from 9 patients with end-stage knee osteoarthritis ( diffuse full thickness cartilage erosion) who were undergoing total knee joint replacement. Raw data from microarray analysis of healthy synovial membranes, which were run on the same platform and array as our osteoarthritic samples, were downloaded from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (accession number GSE12021) and used for comparison. The 19 new Samples of this Series were analyzed (RMA) together with 7 previously submitted healthy individual Samples (GSM175810, GSM175812, GSM176290, GSM176291, GSM176292, GSM176268, GSM176269). The complete RMA data are provided as a supplementary file on the Series record. The GSE12021 reanalyzed data are also provided as a supplementary file on the Series record. GSE32317_12genes.txt includes data from figure 1 of the paper.
Project description:Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease with a substantial health economic burden. There is no current treatment; instead, disease management targets the main symptoms (pain and stiffness) and culminates in joint replacement surgery. OA is a disease of cartilage degeneration, but the molecular changes leading to the development of OA are still poorly understood. In this study we compare methylation, gene transcription and protein abundance at the genome-wide level in individually-matched samples of chondrocytes extracted from affected and relatively healthy articular cartilage across 12 OA patients undergoing total knee replacement. Integration analysis highlights genes that are consistently affected at multiple levels, including AQP1, CLEC3B and COL1A1, and also relevant biological pathways such as extracellular matrix organization, collagen catabolism and proteolysis. Collectively these results provide a first view of the comprehensive molecular landscape underpinning OA development and point to potential therapeutic avenues.
Project description:Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by progressive cartilage loss, bone remodeling, synovial inflammation, and significant joint pain, often resulting in disability. Injury to the synovial joint such as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear is the major cause of OA in young adults. Currently, there are no approved therapies available to prevent joint degeneration or rebuild articular cartilage destroyed by OA, primarily because our understanding of the cellular and molecular changes that contribute to joint damage is very limited. The synovial joint is a complex structure composed of several tissues including articular cartilage, subchondral bone, synovium, synovial fluid, and tensile tissues including tendons and ligaments. In the present study, using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we examined the cellular heterogeneity in articular cartilage from mouse knee joints and determined the knee joint injury-induced early molecular changes in the chondrocytes that could contribute to OA.
Project description:Identify the therapeutic targets/pathways of Osteoarthritis (OA), the most frequent joint disease. Surgery-induced cartilage degeneration is used as an experimental model for OA in mice. An inducible cartilage-specific c-Fos loss-of-function model is generated by combining c-fos floxed and Col2a1-CreERT mice. Since c-Fos mutant mice have more severe phenotype than c-Fos wild type mice, we focused on c-Fos-related signaling pathway in the articular cartilage.