IBMS BoneKEy | BoneKEy Watch
Gene expression profiling reveals a new pathway involved in knee OA pathogenesis
DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2014.60
In this gene profiling study, Chou et al. looked at the differences in gene expression patterns in human knee tissue from patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and controls with no OA.
Total RNA was isolated from 25 patients in total; 20 OA patients and 5 controls. A whole-genome profiling study revealed differences in the expression of 972 genes; 420 were upregulated while 552 were downregulated. Further analysis of nine samples using qRT-PCR analysis revealed the most differentially upregulated and downregulated individual genes, all of which were involved in bone and cartilage development.
Ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) identified a total of 279 functional networks that were significantly associated with these genes. Most were connected with pathways known to be involved in the pathogenesis of OA but a new pathway was also discovered. This involves the collagen-associated genes COL3A1 and COL6A3 and others, including those coding for leptin (LEP) and periostin (POSTN).
Editor’s comment: Bioinformatic mining reveals new canonical pathways relevant to the pathogenesis of knee OA, implicating POSTN and LEP, both of which are known to play a role in bone remodeling by osteoblasts. This knowledge could contribute to the development of new biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for knee OA.
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