Osteoarthritis year in review 2025: Genetics, genomics, and epigenetics

This review provides an overview of the work performed in the realms of genetics, genomics and epigenetics in osteoarthritis (OA) research over the past year.

A search was performed in the EMBASE database for original research articles and reviews published between March 2, 2024 and April 24, 2025. The search strategy consisted of the term "osteoarthritis" paired with keywords related to genetics, genomics and epigenetics. Articles were curated using Covidence software according to their relevance. For discussion in this review, priority was given to publications in top quartile rheumatology journals.

Our initial search identified 2240 unique articles, of which 42 are highlighted within this review. This year included the publication of the largest OA genetics study to date by the Genetics of Osteoarthritis Consortium. Higher impact OA genomics studies often involved the integration of multiple methodologies including chromatin accessibility mapping, single-cell RNA-sequencing and spatial transcriptomics analyses. Epigenetics studies included the characterization of non-coding RNAs, with an emphasis on microRNAs, in OA.

Over the past year, we saw significant advancements in the comprehensive molecular mapping of OA joint tissues. Further strides were made in the characterization of key OA-associated pathways, gene families and microRNAs that could be exploitable therapeutic targets.