microRNA expression in facet cartilage degeneration. Homo sapiens

Osteoarthritis (OA) of spine (facet joints; FJ) is one of the major causes of severe low back pain and disability worldwide. The degeneration of facet cartilage is a hallmark of FJ OA. However, endogenous mechanisms that initiate degeneration of facet cartilage are unknown and there are no disease-modifying therapies to stop FJ OA. In this study we performed microRNA array analysis to identify differentially expressed microRNAs in facet cartilage from patients with FJ OA compared to facet cartilage from patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Overall design: 4 samples analyzed, 2 cartilage samples from patients with LDH (control). In FJ OA group two samples were analyzed. Each sample comprised of pooled cartilage samples from n=3 FJ OA patients.