Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Bioscience, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
  • 2 Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
  • 3 School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Malays Orthop J, 2019 Mar;13(1):1-7.
PMID: 31001376 DOI: 10.5704/MOJ.1903.012

Abstract

The role of extracellular vesicles (EV) in osteoarthritis has become the focus of much research. These vesicles were isolated from several cell types found in synovial joint including chondrocytes and synovium. As articular cartilage is an avascular tissue surrounded by synovial fluid, it is believed that EV might play a crucial role in the homeostasis of cartilage and also could hold key information in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. This is thought to be due to activation of pro-inflammatory factors leading to a catabolic state and degradation of cartilage. In addition, due to the nature of articular cartilage lacking neuronal innervation, knowledge of EV can contribute to identification of novel biomarkers in this debilitating condition. This can be either directly isolated from aspirate of synovial fluid or from peripheral blood. Finally, EVs are known to shuttle important signalling molecules which can be utilised as unique modality in transferring therapeutic compounds in a cell free manner.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.