Boutet Marie-Astrid, Nerviani Alessandra, Fossati-Jimack Liliane, Hands-Greenwood Rebecca, Ahmed Manzoor, Rivellese Felice, Pitzalis Costantino
Centre for Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology, William Harvey Research Institute and Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom; Nantes Université, Oniris, INSERM, Regenerative Medicine and Skeleton, RMeS, UMR 1229, F-44000 Nantes, France.
Centre for Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology, William Harvey Research Institute and Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2024 Feb;32(2):166-176. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2023.10.009. Epub 2023 Nov 19.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating and heterogeneous condition, characterized by various levels of articular cartilage degradation, osteophytes formation, and synovial inflammation. Multiple evidences suggest that synovitis may appear early in the disease development and correlates with disease severity and pain, therefore representing a relevant therapeutic target. In a typical synovitis-driven joint disease, namely rheumatoid arthritis (RA), several pathotypes have been described by our group and associated with clinical phenotypes, disease progression, and response to therapy. However, whether these pathotypes can be also observed in the OA synovium is currently unknown.
Here, using histological approaches combined with semi-quantitative scoring and quantitative digital image analyses, we comparatively characterize the immune cell infiltration in a large cohort of OA and RA synovial tissue samples collected at the time of total joint replacement.
We demonstrate that OA synovium can be categorized also into three pathotypes and characterized by disease- and stage-specific features. Moreover, we revealed that pathotypes specifically reflect distinct levels of peripheral inflammation.
In this study, we provide a novel and relevant pathological classification of OA synovial inflammation. Further studies investigating synovial molecular pathology in OA may contribute to the development of disease-modifying therapies.
骨关节炎（OA）是一种使人衰弱的异质性疾病，其特征为不同程度的关节软骨降解、骨赘形成和滑膜炎。多项证据表明，滑膜炎可能在疾病发展早期出现，并与疾病严重程度和疼痛相关，因此是一个重要的治疗靶点。在一种典型的由滑膜炎驱动的关节疾病，即类风湿关节炎（RA）中，我们团队已经描述了几种病理类型，并将其与临床表型、疾病进展及治疗反应相关联。然而，目前尚不清楚这些病理类型是否也能在OA滑膜中观察到。
在此，我们使用组织学方法结合半定量评分和定量数字图像分析，对在全关节置换时收集的大量OA和RA滑膜组织样本中的免疫细胞浸润进行了比较性表征。
我们证明OA滑膜也可分为三种病理类型，并具有疾病和阶段特异性特征。此外，我们发现这些病理类型具体反映了外周炎症的不同程度。
在本研究中，我们提供了一种新的、重要的OA滑膜炎症病理分类。进一步研究OA滑膜分子病理学可能有助于开发改善病情的疗法。
