Department for Osteology and Biomechanics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2010 Dec;18(12):1630-8. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2010.10.002. Epub 2010 Oct 13.
The aim of the current study was to identify molecular markers for articular cartilage (AC) that can be used as tools for the quality control of tissue engineered (TE) cartilage.
A genome-wide expression analysis was performed using RNA isolated from articular and growth plate (GP) cartilage, both extracted from the knee joints of 6 weeks old minipigs. After confirming the specific expression for selected genes by RT-PCR, these were used as molecular markers for the quality control of TE cartilage.
Albeit several known chondrocyte markers were expressed to a similar extent in articular and GP cartilage, our genome-wide expression analysis led us to identify genes being selectively expressed in either GP or articular chondrocytes. These findings led us to perform a RT-PCR expression analysis for the corresponding genes to demonstrate the absence of GP-specific markers in TE cartilage, while common or AC markers were expressed.
Taken together, these results provide important novel insights into chondrocyte biology in general and AC in particular. In addition, it is reasonable to speculate, that some of the identified genes play distinct roles in the regulation of articular chondrocyte differentiation and/or function, thereby raising the possibility that they may serve as targets for non-operative therapies of osteoarthritis (OA).
本研究旨在确定用于组织工程（TE）软骨质量控制的关节软骨（AC）的分子标志物。
使用从小猪膝关节提取的关节软骨和生长板（GP）软骨中分离的 RNA 进行全基因组表达分析。在通过 RT-PCR 确认所选基因的特异性表达后，这些基因被用作 TE 软骨质量控制的分子标志物。
尽管几个已知的软骨细胞标志物在关节软骨和 GP 软骨中的表达程度相似，但我们的全基因组表达分析导致我们鉴定出在 GP 或关节软骨细胞中选择性表达的基因。这些发现促使我们进行相应基因的 RT-PCR 表达分析，以证明 TE 软骨中不存在 GP 特异性标志物，而常见的或 AC 标志物则有表达。
综上所述，这些结果为软骨细胞生物学，特别是 AC 提供了重要的新见解。此外，可以合理地推测，其中一些鉴定的基因在关节软骨细胞分化和/或功能的调节中发挥独特的作用，从而有可能成为骨关节炎（OA）非手术治疗的靶点。
