Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs 1IK1RX005014-01A2

Mechano-driven Immune Crosstalk During Joint Degeneration

This award supports research on how mechanical stress in joints leads to immune system activation and inflammation, contributing to osteoarthritis progression and pain, using a murine model to identify therapeutic targets.

Description

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder and is thought to be in part driven by injury or overuse induced mechanical dysregulation within knee joint. Recent studies have also identified local tissue inflammation and immune cell infiltration to be associated with pathologic OA progression and pain. This work utilizes a non-invasive mechanical loading model which mimics the most common initiator of disease in patients (joint overloading) to show that mechanically driven inflammation initiates joint tissue paracrine signaling and immune cell activation, ultimately driving OA progression and pain.

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