Abstract

Molecular signatures in peripheral blood mononuclear cells with osteoarthritis

Author(s): Vishal Chand, Sipahee Lal Patel, Rachana Mishra, Baishnab C Tripathy, Jaya Prakash, Md Tashfeen Ashraf & Varsha Gupta

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a slow progressive joint disorder in which the joint matrix undergoes dynamic remodeling procedure where the activities of degradative and synthetic enzymes are balanced which in turn maintains the cartilage volume. In OA, the net shift is towards degradation resulting in loss of collagen and proteoglycans from the matrix. However, the etiology of OA remains elusive with inflammation having an important role therefore the present investigation aims to study the gene expression in OA versus control by DNA microarray technology. The study shows upregulated gene expression for apoptotic cell death cascade mediators, inflammatory cytokines, complement components and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Higher expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases was observed. Unaltered or lower expression was observed for the components involved in bone metabolism as TGF-β and BMPs. Apoptotic mediators and inflammatory genes are upregulated in OA as compared to genes involved in anabolic and bone turnover pathway, thus shifting the balance towards matrix loss and OA. The higher expression of MMPs, apoptotic death mediators along with cytokines are important to cause cartilage destruction. Therefore therapeutic intervention targeting these may result in better outcome to control the progression of OA.