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Updated: Jul 4, 2026
Software-Assisted Quantitative Measurement of Osteoarthritic Subchondral Bone Thickness
Published on: March 18, 2022
Transglutaminase-2 differently regulates cartilage destruction and osteophyte formation in a surgical model of
A Orlandi1, F Oliva, G Taurisano
1Anatomic Pathology, Department of Biopathology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, School of Medicine, Via Montpellier, 00133, Rome, Italy. orlandi@uniroma2.it
Abstract:
Osteoarthritis is a progressive joint disease characterized by cartilage degradation and bone remodeling. Transglutaminases catalyze a calcium-dependent transamidation reaction that produces covalent cross-linking of available substrate glutamine residues and modifies the extracellular matrix. Increased transglutaminases-mediated activity is reported in osteoarthritis, but the relative contribution of transglutaminases-2 (TG2) is uncertain. We describe TG2 expression in human femoral osteoarthritis and in wild-type and homozygous TG2 knockout mice after surgically-induced knee joint instability. Increased TG2 levels were observed in human and wild-type murine osteoarthritic cartilage compared to the respective controls. Histomorphometrical but not X-ray investigation documented in osteoarthritic TG2 knockout mice reduced cartilage destruction and an increased osteophyte formation compared to wild-type mice. These differences were associated with increased TGFbeta-1 expression. In addition to confirming its important role in osteoarthritis development, our results demonstrated that TG2 expression differently influences cartilage destruction and bone remodeling, suggesting new targeted TG2-related therapeutic strategies.