Development of therapeutic strategy targeting common pathway of cartilage degeneration

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24390350
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Orthopaedic surgery
• Research Institution: University of Toyama
• Principal Investigator: KIMURA Tomoatsu 富山大学, 大学院医学薬学研究部(医学), 教授 (80167379)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KAWAGUCHI Yoshiharu 富山大学, 大学院医学薬学研究部(医学), 准教授 (00262527) ; SEKI Shoji 富山大学, 大学院医学薬学研究部(医学), 助教 (00432112)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 関節 / 軟骨 / 椎間板

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Intervertebral disc disease (IVD) and osteoarthritis (OA) are the most common musculoskeletal diseases and numerous molecular mechanisms have been associated with these conditions. We identified c-fos/AP-1 as a molecule that shares pathological pathways in both of IVD and OA. Using newly developed specific inhibitor for the c-fos/AP-1, we demonstrated that the inhibitor mainly reduced expression of matrix-degrading enzymes, such as mmp-13 and adamts5 in disc cells, disc tissue, as well as in chondrocytes.　Medication of the c-fos/AP-1 inhibitor to IVD and OA model animals demonstrated remarkable inhibitory effect on the progression of these conditions. Thus, therapeutic strategies targeting c-fos/AP-1 could become an important direction to treat both of IVD and OA.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学