Researchers from Japan and the United States found out that the MIR-455 molecule is able to stop the decomposition of the cartilage tissue leading to osteoarthritis. According to scientists, the article of which was published in the journal Nature Communications, this microrn is able to become the basis for a new method of treating osteoarthrosis.
from osteoarthrosis – arising from the age of the diseases of the joints, the cause of which is the damage to the cartilage tissue – the millions of people around the world suffer. At present, the only ways to combat it are the prosthetics of the joints and the treatment of symptoms, so scientists seek to identify mechanisms leading to the disease.
Researchers from the Skripps Institute and Tokyo Medical and Dental University paid their attention to one microg, participating in the regulation of production and decomposition of cartilage tissue. The initial MIR-455 molecule is unusual: it broke into two different threads – 3P and 5P. The researchers studied the MIR-455 levels in the samples of the human cartilage tissue and found that people with osteoarthritis have the contents of this miRNA have been significantly lower.
Detailed genetic scanning showed that among the objectives of both MIR-455 filaments was a HIF-2α protein (a factor induced by 2-alpha hypoxia) involved in the decomposition of cartilage tissue. By introducing MIR-455 synthetic threads, researchers managed to suppress the decomposition of cartilage in mice, as well as the expression of HIF-2α. According to the researchers, MIR-455 has the potential to become a new therapeutic agent in the treatment of osteoarthrosis.