CRLF1 involves in intervertebral disc degeneration via exacerbating extracellular matrix degradation and nucleus pulposus cells senescence

Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders with a huge global impact. Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is an important cause of low back pain. Therefore, it is crucial to identify and elucidate the key factors affecting IVDD. We identified CRLF1, a key molecule in the process of IVDD, by Gene Expression Omnibus dataset, and determined the high expression of CRLF1 within the degenerated discs and in senescent NPCs by IHC, WB. To further explore the effect of CRLF1 on NPCs, we applied RNA-seq to explore the phenotypic changes of NPCs treated with CRLF1. Overall design: Normal rat nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) were treated with vehicle or recombinant CRLF1 (r-CRLF1, Cloud-Clone Corp, China) for 3 days.