The role of hypoxia-related molecules in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common chronic diseases in orthopedics. With increasing populations of aging and obese people, its incidence has risen year by year and become a major public health problem. The hallmark of osteoarthritis is cartilage destruction, the main cause of which is degradation of ex-tracellular matrix by catabolic enzymes and death of chondrocytes caused by apoptosis or autophagy. Articular cartilage is a hypoxic environment because it lacks blood supply and the joint cavity is relatively closed. A hy-poxic environment induces chondrocytes to produce a series of hypoxia-related molecules which can regulate the expression of catabolic enzymes, autophagy and apoptosis of chondrocytes for osteoarthritis. This paper aims to review recent reports on the relationship between hypoxic-related molecules and pathogenesis of osteoarthritis and discuss the role of hypoxia-related molecules in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Key words: Osteoarthritis; Chondrocytes; Cell hypoxia; Hypoxia inducible factor; N-myc downstream regulated gene-3