Thyroid hormone induces ossification and terminal maturation in a preserved OA cartilage biomimetic model

Korthagen, N.M.; Houtman, E.; Almeida, R.C. de; Sivasubramaniyan, K.; Mahdad, R.; Nelissen, R.G.H.H.; Ramos, Y.F.M.; Tessari, M.A.

doi:doi:10.1186/s13075-024-03326-5

Objective To characterize aspects of triiodothyronine (T3) induced chondrocyte terminal maturation within the molecular osteoarthritis pathophysiology using the previously established T3 human ex vivo osteochondral explant model. Designs RNA-sequencing was performed on explant cartilage obtained from OA patients (n = 8), that was cultured ex vivo with or without T3 (10 ng/ml), and main fndings were validated using RT-qPCR in an independent sample set (n = 22). Enrichment analysis was used for functional clustering and comparisons with available OA patient RNAsequencing and GWAS datasets were used to establish relevance for OA pathophysiology by linking to OA patient genomic profles. Results Besides the upregulation of known hypertrophic genes EPAS1 and ANKH, T3 treatment resulted in diferential expression of 247 genes with main pathways linked to extracellular matrix and ossifcation. CCDC80, CDON, ANKH and ATOH8 were among the genes found to consistently mark early, ongoing and...Show moreObjective To characterize aspects of triiodothyronine (T3) induced chondrocyte terminal maturation within the molecular osteoarthritis pathophysiology using the previously established T3 human ex vivo osteochondral explant model. Designs RNA-sequencing was performed on explant cartilage obtained from OA patients (n = 8), that was cultured ex vivo with or without T3 (10 ng/ml), and main fndings were validated using RT-qPCR in an independent sample set (n = 22). Enrichment analysis was used for functional clustering and comparisons with available OA patient RNAsequencing and GWAS datasets were used to establish relevance for OA pathophysiology by linking to OA patient genomic profles. Results Besides the upregulation of known hypertrophic genes EPAS1 and ANKH, T3 treatment resulted in diferential expression of 247 genes with main pathways linked to extracellular matrix and ossifcation. CCDC80, CDON, ANKH and ATOH8 were among the genes found to consistently mark early, ongoing and terminal maturational OA processes in patients. Furthermore, among the 37 OA risk genes that were signifcantly afected in cartilage by T3 were COL12A1, TNC, SPARC and PAPPA. Conclusions RNA-sequencing results show that metabolic activation and recuperation of growth plate morphology are induced by T3 in OA chondrocytes, indicating terminal maturation is accelerated. The molecular mechanisms involved in hypertrophy were linked to all stages of OA pathophysiology and will be used to validate disease models for drug testing.
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Thyroid hormone induces ossification and terminal maturation in a preserved OA cartilage biomimetic model