Osteoarthritis year in review 2024: Epidemiology and therapy.

This "Year in Review" presents a curated selection of research themes and individual studies within the clinical osteoarthritis (OA) field, focusing on epidemiology and therapy. The search was conducted in electronic database MEDLINE from March 4, 2023, to March 31, 2024, specifically targeting English-language articles involving human participants. Inclusions were based on perceived importance and relevance to identifying risk factors or advancing OA treatments.

Human-specific duplicate CHRFAM7A gene is associated with more severe osteoarthritis and amplifies pain behaviours.

Objectives: CHRFAM7A is a uniquely human fusion gene that functions as a dominant negative regulator of alpha 7 acetylcholine nicotinic receptor (α7nAChR) in vitro. This study determined the impact of CHRFAM7A on α7nAChR agonist responses, osteoarthritis (OA) severity and pain behaviours and investigated mechanisms.

Methods: Transgenic CHRFAM7A (TgCHRFAM7A) mice were used to determine the impact of CHRFAM7A on knee OA histology, pain severity in OA and other pain models, response to nAchR agonist and IL-1β.

Identification of Symptom Phenotypes of Hand Osteoarthritis Using Hierarchical Clustering: Results From the DIGICOD Cohort.

Objective: We aimed to delineate phenotypes in hand osteoarthritis (HOA) based on cardinal symptoms (pain, functional limitation, stiffness, and aesthetic discomfort).

Methods: With data from the Digital Cohort Design (DIGICOD), we performed a hierarchical agglomerative clustering analysis based on Australian/Canadian Osteoarthritis Hand Index (AUSCAN) subscores for pain, physical function, stiffness, and visual analog scale for aesthetic discomfort. Kruskal-Wallis and post hoc analyses were used to assess differences between clusters.

Time to Total Knee Arthroplasty after Intra-Articular Hyaluronic Acid or Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.

Intra-articular (IA) hyaluronic acid (HA) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are increasingly being prescribed for knee osteoarthritis (KOA). However, failure of the medical treatment may result in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We wondered if IA HA or PRP injections (intervention) may delay the time to TKA (outcome) among KOA patients (population), compared to KOA patients not receiving these injections (comparator).

Pollutants: a candidate as a new risk factor for osteoarthritis-results from a systematic literature review.

Background: Considering non-classical environmental risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA), a systematic literature review (SLR) was performed to summarise existing knowledge on associations between OA and pollutants.

Methods: PubMed was used to identify studies reporting data on OA and pollutants in humans (examples of MeSH terms: "Pesticides" or "Polychlorinated Biphenyls" or 'Lead'). Reports included epidemiological clinical studies, pollutant assessments in ex vivo OA joint, and in vitro effects of pollutants on chondrocytes.

Alpha-7 Nicotinic Receptor Dampens Murine Osteoblastic Response to Inflammation and Age-Related Osteoarthritis.

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a whole-joint disease characterized by a low-grade inflammation that is involved in both cartilage degradation and subchondral bone remodeling. Since subchondral bone has a cholinergic innervation and that acetylcholine (Ach) might have an anti-inflammatory effect through the α7 nicotinic Ach receptor (α7nAchR), we aimed (i) to determine the expression of non-neuronal cholinergic system and nicotinic receptor subunits by murine and human osteoblasts, (ii) to address the role of α7nAchR in osteoblastic response to inflammation, and (iii) to study the role of α7nAchR in a spontaneous aging OA model.

Methods: Primary cultures of WT and α7nAchR knock-out mice (Chrna7) murine osteoblasts and of subchondral bone human OA osteoblasts were performed.

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in erosive hand osteoarthritis: protocol for the randomised, double-blind, sham-controlled ESTIVAL trial.

Introduction: Patients with erosive hand osteoarthritis (EHOA) experience pain and inflammation, two features that can be targeted by vagus nerve stimulation using electrical auricular transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS). A pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of the procedure, so we designed a randomised sham-controlled trial to determine the safety and efficacy of tVNS in EHOA.

Methods And Analysis: ESTIVAL Study (Essai randomisé comparant la STImulation auriculaire transcutanée du nerf Vague versus sham stimulation dans l'Arthrose DigitaLe Érosive symptomatique et inflammatoire) is a superiority, randomised, double-blind sham-controlled trial comparing two parallel arms: active and sham tVNSs in a 1:1 ratio.

Effect of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Erosive Hand Osteoarthritis: Results from a Pilot Trial.

Beyond its effect on vegetative functions, the activation of the vagus nerve inhibits inflammation and reduces pain signaling. The aim of this open-label pilot study was to determine the efficacy and tolerance of transcutaneous auricular VNS (taVNS) on erosive hand osteoarthritis (EHOA) symptoms. Symptomatic EHOA patients with hand pain VAS ≥ 40/100 mm and ≥1 interphalangeal swollen joint(s) were included.

Metacarpophalangeal Joint Impairment in Hand Osteoarthritis and Its Association With Mechanical Factors: Results From the Digital Cohort Osteoarthritis Design Hand Osteoarthritis Cohort.

Objective: To determine the prevalence, distribution, and characteristics associated with radiographic metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of baseline data from the Digital Cohort Osteoarthritis Design, a French monocentric cohort including patients with symptomatic hand OA. We evaluated the prevalence of radiographic MCP joint OA, defined as ≥2 MCP joints with a Kellgren/Lawrence score of ≥2.

The DIGICOD cohort: A hospital-based observational prospective cohort of patients with hand osteoarthritis - methodology and baseline characteristics of the population.

Objective: Despite its prevalence, there are few worldwide hand osteoarthritis (HOA) cohorts. The main objective of DIGItal COhort Design (DIGICOD) cohort is to investigate prognostic clinical, biological, genetic and imaging factors of clinical worsening after 6years follow-up.

Methods: DIGICOD is a hospital-based prospective cohort including patients>35years-old with symptomatic HOA fulfilling: (i) ACR criteria for HOA with≥2 symptomatic joints among proximal/distal interphalangeal joints or 1st interphalangeal joint with Kellgren-Lawrence (KL)≥2; or (ii) symptomatic thumb base OA with KL≥2.

Vagus nerve stimulation in musculoskeletal diseases.

The vagus nerve is the main nerve of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system. Beyond its vegetative functions, the vagus nerve possesses anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Initially developed in the treatment of refractory epilepsy, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is currently being evaluated in several musculoskeletal diseases.

Recommendations of the French Society of Rheumatology on pharmacological treatment of knee osteoarthritis.

Objectives: To establish recommendations for pharmacological treatment of knee osteoarthritis specific to France.

Methods: On behalf of the French Society of Rheumatology (SFR), a bibliography group analyzed the literature on the efficacy and safety of each pharmacological treatment for knee osteoarthritis. This group joined a multidisciplinary working group to draw up recommendations.

The Role of the Non-neuronal Cholinergic System in Inflammation and Degradation Processes in Osteoarthritis.

Objective: The non-neuronal cholinergic system represents non-neuronal cells that have the biochemical machinery to synthetize de novo and/or respond to acetylcholine (ACh). We undertook this study to investigate this biochemical machinery in chondrocytes and its involvement in osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Expression of the biochemical machinery for ACh metabolism and nicotinic ACh receptors (nAChR), particularly α7-nAChR, in human OA and murine chondrocytes was determined by polymerase chain reaction and ligand-binding.

Clearing method for 3-dimensional immunofluorescence of osteoarthritic subchondral human bone reveals peripheral cholinergic nerves.

The cholinergic system plays a major anti-inflammatory role in many diseases through acetylcholine (Ach) release after vagus nerve stimulation. Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with local low-grade inflammation, but the regulatory mechanisms are unclear. Local Ach release could have anti-inflammatory activity since articular cells express Ach receptors involved in inflammatory responses.

[Is there one or more osteoarthritis ?].

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common osteoarticular disease, is a all joint disease. It affects several joint (spine, knee, hip, hands) that are subject to different degrees of mechanical stress. As well, the clinical forms of OA could differ significantly from one subject to another: some could have mono or polyarticular, erosive hand OA or recurrent effusion while we do not know what governs these different clinical presentations.

Impairment of glyoxalase-1, an advanced glycation end-product detoxifying enzyme, induced by inflammation in age-related osteoarthritis.

Background: Accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) is involved in age-related osteoarthritis (OA). Glyoxalase (Glo)-1 is the main enzyme involved in the removal of AGE precursors, especially carboxymethyl-lysine (CML). We aimed to investigate the expression of several AGEs and Glo-1 in human OA cartilage and to study chondrocytic Glo-1 regulation by inflammation, mediated by interleukin (IL)-1β.

The Phenotypic Approach to Osteoarthritis: A Look at Metabolic Syndrome-Associated Osteoarthritis.

Metabolic syndrome-associated osteoarthritis (Met-OA) is a clinical phenotype defined by the role of obesity and metabolic syndrome as risk factors and by chronic low-grade inflammation. Obesity is an established risk factor for osteoarthritis not only at the knee, but also at the hands. Metabolic syndrome is also a risk factor for osteoarthritis, and a cumulative effect of the various syndrome components combines with an independent effect of each individual component (diabetes, dyslipidemia, and/or hypertension).

Role of the autonomic nervous system in osteoarthritis.

Joint homeostasis is affected by local and systemic processes. Catecholaminergic and cholinergic fibers innervate the synovium, trabecular bone, and periosteum. Several studies have investigated the involvement of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in joint homeostasis and the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis (OA).

The nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor/heme oxygenase-1 axis is critical for the inflammatory features of type 2 diabetes-associated osteoarthritis.

Epidemiological findings support the hypothesis that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA). Moreover, OA cartilage from patients with T2DM exhibits a greater response to inflammatory stress, but the molecular mechanism is unclear. To investigate whether the antioxidant defense system participates in this response, we examined here the expression of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf-2), a master antioxidant transcription factor, and of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), one of its main target genes, in OA cartilage from T2DM and non-T2DM patients as well as in murine chondrocytes exposed to high glucose (HG).