The STING pathway does not contribute to the onset of cell senescence and SASP induction in the intervertebral disc

Transcriptional analysis of 6-month-old primary nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF) mouse disc tissues from wild-type (WT) and N153S mice, which harbor a mutation wich constiuitively activates Sting. Mouse details available here: https://www.jax.org/strain/033543 The cGAS-STING pathway promotes the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), which is associated with intervertebral disc degeneration, and has had implications in inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders. We examined the role of STING in the disc by examining the transcriptomic profiles of nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus cells in WT and N153S mice using microarray. Tissues from the nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF) were harvested from the intervertebral discs of four WT and four N153S mice at 6 months of age. NP and AF tissues were collected from lumbar and caudal discs in each animal for RNA extraction and hybridization using Affymetrix microarray.