Investigation of new therapeutic approaches for preventing osteoarthritis

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25893133
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Orthopaedic surgery
Research Institution	Kobe University
Principal Investigator	TAKAYAMA KOJI 神戸大学, 医学部附属病院, 医員 (80546490)
Project Period (FY)	2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Keywords	軟骨変性 / ラパマイシン / オートファジー
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The local intra-articular injection of rapamycin significantly delayed articular cartilage degradation at 8 and 12 weeks after destabilizing the medial meniscus (DMM) surgery. A reduction in mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) expression and the activation of an autophagy marker: light chain 3 (LC3) in the chondrocytes was observed in the rapamycin treated mice. Rapamycin treatment also decreased matrix metallopeptidase 13 (MMP13) expressions at 8 and 12 weeks after DMM surgery. Local intra-articular injection of rapamycin may represent a strategy to prevent the development of articular cartilage damage. Further studies that explore mTOR inhibition will provide novel insights into the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis and could lead to the establishment of new therapeutic approaches for slowing down the progression, or preventing osteoarthritis.