Osteoarthritis year in review 2018: genetics and epigenetics

This review was designed to identify highlights of the osteoarthritis (OA) genetics and epigenetics literature published between April 2017 and January 2018.

A Pubmed literature search was conducted using the keywords 'osteoarthritis' and each of the following: 'genomic', 'genetic', 'epigenomic', 'epigenetic', 'histone', 'noncoding RNA', 'miRNA', 'lncRNA', 'DNA methylation', 'DNA hydroxymethylation', 'DNMT', and 'TET'. The dates of publication were restricted to 4/1/2017-1/15/2018. Results were compared to the same search terms limited to 4/1/2016-1/15/2017.

Virtually all search term combinations demonstrated a decrease in papers published this year compared to last, with epigenetic and miRNA/lncRNA research being stable. Despite this, numerous advances were made this year, including the second large genome-wide association study (GWAS) study of hand OA, a new twin study of hip and knee OA concordance, an extensive study of GDF5 evolution, analyses of the contribution of Dnmt3a to OA, a description of DNA methylation in a nonhuman primate model of OA, and an integrated, multi-omics analysis of DNA methylation, mRNA, and protein expression in human OA samples, among others. A variety of micro- and a few circular-RNA studies were also published, highlighting the importance of noncoding RNA in both the pathogenesis and potential treatment of OA.

Although publications have decreased slightly in the last year, genetics and epigenetics continue to be a topic of substantial research in OA, and considerable progress continues to be made in the field.