Transforming Growth Factor Beta as a causal factor in human osteoarthritis

骨关节炎（OA）是一种常见的关节退行性疼痛疾病，它构成了一个主要的和日益严重的公共卫生问题，并且没有有效的治疗方法。我们最近在小鼠中进行的令人兴奋的研究发现，骨中TGFb的过度活性在OA发病机制中起着关键的因果作用。由于骨中TGFb的沉默可能为减缓OA的进展提供一种全新的途径，我们建议在人类OA中研究这一途径。

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common painful degenerative disease of the joints, which constitutes a major and growing public health problem, and for which there are no effective therapies. Our exciting recent research in the mouse has found that TGFb over-activity in the bone has a critical causal role in OA pathogenesis. Because TGFb silencing in bone could provide an entirely new way to slow the progression of OA, we propose to investigate this pathway in human OA.