Omics-driven insights into the molecular pathways driving osteoarthritis pathogenesis

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Research
• Genomics and Molecular Biology
• Rheumatology

Background:

• Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent joint disorder with no approved disease-modifying treatments.
• Current understanding of OA pathogenesis is limited despite its significant impact on quality of life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review single- and multi-omics studies in OA.
• To highlight the role of omics in identifying molecular and therapeutic subtypes.
• To discuss challenges and future directions for omics-driven OA research.

Main Methods:

• Review of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics studies in OA.
• Analysis of multi-omics integration and spatial proteomics findings.
• Discussion of challenges including data complexity and translational validation.

Main Results:

• Omics technologies have advanced understanding of OA pathogenesis and molecular pathways.
• Multi-omics integration reveals crosstalk between inflammatory, metabolic, and degradative processes.
• Spatial proteomics offers insights into synovial tissue heterogeneity.

Conclusions:

• Omics research has yet to yield effective disease-modifying OA therapies.
• Future work should integrate AI, single-cell, and spatial omics in longitudinal studies.
• Addressing current challenges can lead to personalized OA therapies and improved patient differentiation, including distinguishing OA from psoriatic arthritis (PsA).