Abstract
The development of arthropathy is a major co-morbidity in patients with hemophilia. The present study was designed to study the role of a microRNA biomarker (miR-15b) in the development of joint disease. To investigate the expression profile of miR-15b during the development of arthropathy, we first isolated and studied small RNA from the acute and chronic hemarthrosis model of hemophilia A mice. We observed that miR-15b was consistently repressed (~1- to 4-fold) from the onset of joint bleeding (1, 3, 7 and 24 h) until six bleeding episodes (up to 90 days). To test if reconstitution of miR-15b modulates biomarkers of joint damage in a chronic hemarthrosis model, we administered an adeno-associated virus (AAV) 5-miR-15b vector intra-articularly alone or in combination with systemic administration of AAV2-factor VIII. miR-15b overexpression downregulated markers of angiogenesis and hypoxia (vascular epithelial growth factor α (VEGF-α) and hypoxia inducing factor 2α (HIF-2α), ~70% and ~34%, respectively) in the affected joints. In addition, the co-administration of miR-15b and factor VIII vectors reduced the levels of the chondrodegenerative matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) 1, 3, 9 and 14 (~14% to 60%) in the injured joints. These data demonstrate for the first time the role of a miR-15b in the development of hemophilic arthropathy and has implications in development of miR based therapies for joint disease.
Highlights
Blood-induced joint damage or arthropathy is a major cause of morbidity in patients with hemophilia
We found that during hemarthrosis, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), a key stress-responder and inflammatory mediator and other molecular markers of hypoxia (hypoxia inducing factor 1α (HIF-1α) and HIF-2α), angiogenesis (vascular epithelial growth factor α (VEGF-α)) and chondro-degenerative matrix-metalloproteinases 3 (MMP3) and MMP13 play a progressive role in the development of arthropathy
Our study demonstrates that miR-15b is consistently downregulated in both acute and chronic hemarthrosis model of hemophilia A
Summary
Blood-induced joint damage or arthropathy is a major cause of morbidity in patients with hemophilia. We found that during hemarthrosis, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), a key stress-responder and inflammatory mediator and other molecular markers of hypoxia (hypoxia inducing factor 1α (HIF-1α) and HIF-2α), angiogenesis (vascular epithelial growth factor α (VEGF-α)) and chondro-degenerative matrix-metalloproteinases 3 (MMP3) and MMP13 play a progressive role in the development of arthropathy. Some of these factors have been implicated in other in vitro studies confirming their role in progression of joint disease [8,9]. We investigated the effect of miR-15b on various MMPs (1–17), as these chondro-degenerative enzymes are the crucial mediators of cartilage turnover and articular damage [16]
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