Transforming Growth Factor Beta as a causal factor in human osteoarthritis

骨关节炎是一种常见的疼痛的关节退行性疾病，构成了一个重大的和日益严重的公共卫生问题，目前还没有有效的治疗方法。我们最近在小鼠身上进行的令人兴奋的研究发现，骨中TGFb的过度活动在OA的发病机制中起着关键的因果作用。由于TGFb在骨骼中的沉默可能提供一种全新的方式来减缓骨性关节炎的进展，我们建议在人类骨性关节炎中研究这一途径。

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.