Novel Target Discovered for Potentially Treating and Preventing Osteoarthritis

Scientists at UF Scripps Biomedical Research have described a specific protein that manages activities within chondrocytes, a critical cell type that maintains healthy cartilage in joints. As people age and stress their joints, their chondrocytes begin to fail. The UF Scripps team found that activating a specific protein in these cells called RORβ (beta) could restore multiple factors needed for smooth joints to healthier levels, helping to control inflammation.

Activating RORβ could serve as a new approach to prevent or delay development of the osteoarthritis, according to the researchers who published their study “RORβ modulates a gene program that is protective against articular cartilage damage” in PLOS.

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