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Linking chondrocyte and synovial transcriptional profile to clinical phenotype in osteoarthritis

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Southam, Lorraine 
Fontalis, Andreas 
Clark, Matthew J 
Jayasuriya, Raveen L 

Abstract

Objectives: To determine how gene expression profiles in osteoarthritis joint tissues relate to patient phenotypes and whether molecular subtypes can be reproducibly captured by a molecular classification algorithm. Methods: We analysed RNA sequencing data from cartilage and synovium in 113 osteoarthritis patients, applying unsupervised clustering and Multi-Omics Factor Analysis to characterise transcriptional profiles. We tested the association of the molecularly defined patient subgroups with clinical characteristics from electronic health records. Results: We detected two patient subgroups in low-grade cartilage (showing no/minimal degeneration, cartilage normal/softening only), with differences associated with inflammation, extracellular matrix-related and cell adhesion pathways. The high-inflammation subgroup was associated with female sex (OR 4.12, p=0.0024) and prescription of proton pump inhibitors (OR 4.21, p=0.0040). We identified two independent patient subgroupings in osteoarthritis synovium: one related to inflammation and the other to extracellular matrix and cell adhesion processes. A seven-gene classifier including MMP13, APOD, MMP2, MMP1, CYTL1, IL6 and C15orf48 recapitulated the main axis of molecular heterogeneity in low-grade knee osteoarthritis cartilage (correlation ρ=−0.88, p<10−10) and was reproducible in an independent patient cohort (ρ=−0.85, p<10−10). Conclusions: These data support the reproducible stratification of osteoarthritis patients by molecular subtype and the exploration of new avenues for tailored treatments.

Description

Funder: NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre

Keywords

Osteoarthritis, 1506, 2311, 2497, osteoarthritis, chondrocytes, inflammation

Journal Title

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0003-4967
1468-2060

Volume Title

Publisher

BMJ Publishing Group
Sponsorship
Centre for Integrated Research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (MRC 148985)
Wellcome Trust (206194)
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (666869, THYRAGE)
Versus Arthritis (21156)