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Characterization of microRNA expression profiles in normal and osteoarthritic human chondrocytes Full Text
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 08/17/2012
Diaz–Prado S et al. – The authors have identified 7 miRNAs differentially expressed in osteoarthritis (OA) and normal chondrocytes. The authors' potential miRNA target predictions and the signalling cascades altered by the differentially expressed miRNAs supports the potential involvement of the detected miRNAs in OA pathology. Due to the importance of miRNA in mediating the translation of target mRNA into protein, the identification of these miRNAs differentially expressed in normal and OA chondrocyte micropellets could have important diagnostic and therapeutic potential.
Methods- Chondrocytes were moved to aggregate culture and evaluated using histological and qPCR techniques.
- miRNAs were isolated and analyzed using the Agilent Human miRNA Microarray.
- Of the 723 miRNAs analyzed, 7 miRNAs showed a statistically significant differential expression.
- Amongst these 7 human miRNAs, 1 was up-regulated in OA chondrocytes (hsa-miR-483-5p) and 6 were up-regulated in normal chondrocytes (hsa-miR-149, hsa-miR-582-3p, hsa-miR-1227, hsa-miR-634, hsa-miR-576-5p and hsa-miR-641).
- These profiling results were validated by the detection of some selected miRNAs by qPCR.
- In silico analyses predicted that key molecular pathways potentially altered by the miRNAs differentially expressed in normal and OA chondrocytes include TGF-beta, Wnt, Erb and mTOR signalling; all of them implicated in the development, maintenance and destruction of articular cartilage.
