Impaired chondrcoyte U3 SNORNA expression in osteoarthritis and its impact on the chondrocyte's protein translation apparatus

Abstract

Purpose: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent degenerative joint disease with no disease-modifying treatment available. During OA progression, articular chondrocyte homeostasis is disturbed and presents with a catabolic signature. Pathways controlling ribosome activity have previously been described in the regulation of chondrocyte homeostasis. However, ribosome biogenesis has not been implicated in OA. We hypothesized that U3 small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA), a key factor in the endoribonucleolytic ribosomal RNA (rRNA) maturation, is critical for chondrocyte homeostasis via regulating the availability of mature rRNAs.