Analysis and ceRNA network construction of differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs in human osteoarthritis cartilage

This study aimed to identify differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in damaged cartilage (DC) and un-damaged cartilage (UDC) from osteoarthritis (OA) patients. RNA sequencing was performed on cartilage samples from five OA patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Bioinformatics analysis, including Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment, and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network construction, was conducted. Overall design: Cartilage samples were obtained from osteoarthritis (OA) patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA). For each patient, both damaged cartilage (DC) from the lesion area and un-damaged cartilage (UDC) from the relatively preserved area were collected. RNA was extracted from these samples, and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) sequencing was performed to identify differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs.