Project description:Low back pain is a major cause of disability especially for people between 20 and 50 years of age. As a costly healthcare problem, it imposes a serious socio-economic burden. Current surgical therapies have considerable drawbacks and fail to replace the normal disc in facilitating spinal movements and absorbing load. Therefore, the focus of regenerative medicine is on identifying biomarkers and signalling pathways to improve our understanding about the cascades of disc degeneration and allow for the design of specific therapies. We hypothesized that comparing microarray profiles from degenerative and non-degenerative discs will lead to the identification of dysregulated signalling and pathophysiological targets. Microarray data sets were generated from human annulus fibrosus cells and analysed using IPA ingenuity pathway analysis system. Gene expression values were validated by qRT-PCR, and respective proteins were identified by immunohistochemistry. Microarray analysis revealed 17 dysregulated molecular markers and various dysregulated cellular functions, including cell proliferation and inflammatory response, in the human degenerative annulus fibrosus. The most significant canonical pathway induced in degenerative annulus fibrosus was found to be the interferon signalling pathway. In conclusion, this study indicates interferon-alpha signalling pathway activation with IFIT3 and IGFBP3 up-regulation which may affect cellular function in human degenerative disc. 48 samples of intervertebral disc tissue - annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus - displaying varying degrees (grades) of degeneration
Project description:Low back pain is a major cause of disability especially for people between 20 and 50 years of age. As a costly healthcare problem, it imposes a serious socio-economic burden. Current surgical therapies have considerable drawbacks and fail to replace the normal disc in facilitating spinal movements and absorbing load. Therefore, the focus of regenerative medicine is on identifying biomarkers and signalling pathways to improve our understanding about the cascades of disc degeneration and allow for the design of specific therapies. We hypothesized that comparing microarray profiles from degenerative and non-degenerative discs will lead to the identification of dysregulated signalling and pathophysiological targets. Microarray data sets were generated from human annulus fibrosus cells and analysed using IPA ingenuity pathway analysis system. Gene expression values were validated by qRT-PCR, and respective proteins were identified by immunohistochemistry. Microarray analysis revealed 17 dysregulated molecular markers and various dysregulated cellular functions, including cell proliferation and inflammatory response, in the human degenerative annulus fibrosus. The most significant canonical pathway induced in degenerative annulus fibrosus was found to be the interferon signalling pathway. In conclusion, this study indicates interferon-alpha signalling pathway activation with IFIT3 and IGFBP3 up-regulation which may affect cellular function in human degenerative disc.
Project description:To mimic a degenerative insult, rat intervertebral discs were cultured in the presence of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta and serum limiting conditions. Gene expression analysis was performed using a microarray to identify differential gene expression between experimental and control groups. The discs were collected and the annulus fibrosus (AF) was separated from the nucleus pulposus (NP). Total RNA from NP was used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays: Control group - Ctr-1, Ctr-2, Ctr-3, Ctr-4 and Experimental group-Exp-1, Exp-2, Exp-3, Exp-4.
Project description:Transcriptomic analysis of nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF) tissues from intervertebral discs of 3-month-old mice with the conditional postnatal deletion of Sox9. The transcription factor Sox9 is essential for the maintenance and health of the intervertebral disc of mice. We examined the transcriptomic profiles of nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus cells in control and Sox9 conditional knock-out mice using microarrays.
Project description:Transcriptomic analysis of annulus fibrosus (AF) tissues from intervertebral discs of 7-month-old mice with the global deletion of ABCC6. ABCC6 is an efflux transporter of ATP in hepatic cells and loss of function results in metabolic ectopic mineralization disorder pseudoxanthoma elsaticum. To understand the role of ABCC6 and ectopic mineralization in the disc, we examined the transcriptomic profiles of annulus fibrosus cells in control and ABCC6 knock-out mice using microarrays.
Project description:Transcriptomic analysis of nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF) tissues from intervertebral discs of 3-month-old mice with loss of function mutation of Ank gene. Regulator of extracellular inorganic pyrophosphate, Ank is essential for preventing ectopic mineralization in the extracellular matrices, maintaining the health of the intervertebral disc of mice. We examined the transcriptomic profiles of nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus cells in control and Ank mutant mice using microarrays.
Project description:The aim of this transcription profiling study was to identify novel genes that could be used to distinguish bovine Nucleus pulposus (NP) cells from articular cartilage (AC) and annulus fibrosus (AF) cells and to further determine their expression in normal and degenerate human intervertebral disc (IVD). This study has identified a number of novel genes that characterise the bovine and human NP and IVD cell phenotypes and allows for discrimination between AC, AF and NP cells.<br><br>
Project description:Transcriptional analysis of 6-month-old primary nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF) mouse disc tissues from wild-type (WT) and N153S mice, which harbor a mutation wich constiuitively activates Sting. Mouse details available here: https://www.jax.org/strain/033543 The cGAS-STING pathway promotes the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), which is associated with intervertebral disc degeneration, and has had implications in inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders. We examined the role of STING in the disc by examining the transcriptomic profiles of nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus cells in WT and N153S mice using microarray.
Project description:Analysis of C3H10T1/2 cells overexpressing Mkx. This microarray results show that Mkx has the potential ability to promote differentiation to tendon, ligament and annulus fibrosus cells.
