Dysregulated gene expression in human osteoarthritis cartilage

Osteoarthritis causes pain and functional disability for over 500 million people worldwide and characterized by progressive loss of cartilage from the articulating surfaces of diarthrodial joints. Although the etiology of the disease is unknown, it is widely accepted that these degenerative changes arise from an imbalance of synthetic and degradative pathways that control cartilage extracellular matrix metabolism. Genome-wide U133A Affymetrix oligonucleotide array set was used to comprehensively investigate the expression pattern in non-osteoarthritis (normal) and cartilage obtained from OA patients undergoing knee replacement surgery. This study was undertaken to better understand the molecular basis of the disease and to provide relevant insight into phenotypical alterations and mechanisms involved in OA pathogenesis. Analyzed 5 normal and 6 OA pool samples. Each pool has 5 individual RNA samples pooled for target preparation.