Genome-wide mapping of DNA hydroxymethylation in osteoarthritic chondrocytes [expression]

Examination of the genome-wide distribution of 5hmC in osteoarthritic chondrocytes compared to normal chondrocytes in order to elucidate the effect on OA-specific gene expression. 5hmC-sequencing was performed and data was compared with microarray gene expression data to identify genes with differential expression between normal and OA chondrocytes that are potentially under epigenetic regulation. Gene expression patterns were examined by comparing the 5 normal samples to the 2 OA samples to assess the changing expression profiles between normal and OA chondrocytes. We analyzed the changes in gene expression in OA; genes with a fold-change ≥ or ≤1.5 or 1.2, with a difference in intensity of >100 and within the lower 90% confidence bound, were selected.