Research provides promise for better dealing with osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a common, degenerative, joint disease that increases in prevalence with age. During the disease, the matrix structure comprising cartilage in the joints is significantly diminished, inflicting severe frictional pain and restricting joint movement. One reason for this phenomenon is reduced matrix production and gene expression.

SirT1 is a nuclear enzyme that regulates the expression of many genes through alterations in chromatin structure. Chromatin is the combination of DNA and other proteins that make up the contents of the cell nucleus.

In laboratory work carried out at the Laboratory of Cartilage Biology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Dental Medicine, researchers headed by Dr. Mona Dvir-Ginzberg showed that SirT1 positively regulates the expression of many cartilage-tissue components. Her work was carried out in cooperation with researchers at the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

This data, published in the Arthritis and Rheumatism journal, showed that when there is joint inflammation, SirT1 degenerates and is inactivated, thereby accelerating joint destruction through altered gene expression.

Understanding these events will enable the design of drug targets to serve as potential therapies that may retard or reverse OA through possibly boosting SirT1 production. Additionally, testing of SirT1 levels could serve as an early indicator for OA susceptibility and thus serve as a signal for beginning timely treatment.

“Developing a combined strategy for diagnosis and treatment, based on these data, could provide an efficient alternative for joint replacement surgery and enable susceptible individuals to experience a better quality of life for years to come,” said Dr Dvir-Ginzberg.

For further information:
Jerry Barach, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University,
Tel: 02-588-2904.
Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, Tel: 054-8820016.

Media Contact

Jerry Barach Hebrew University of Jerusalem

More Information:

http://www.huji.ac.il

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors