Unique circulating microrna profile identified in early radiographic knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

Purpose: The complex pathophysiology of osteoarthritis (OA) is likely the result of a combination of local changes in the joint and systemic changes throughout the body. There are relatively few large-scale studies with clearly defined patient cohorts that have profiled molecular differences in circulating factors in OA. Next generation sequencing is considered to be the gold-standard approach for unbiased profiling of targets of interest in tissues of interest. When applied to circulating factors, this method presents the opportunity to comprehensively profile factors that may be associated with particular stages of disease, offering the sensitivity and specificity required to identify novel and low abundance transcripts.