Chondrogenesis is the earliest phase of skeletal development, involving mesenchymal cell recruitment and migration, condensation of progenitors, and chondrocyte differentiation, and maturation and resulting in the formation of cartilage and bone during endochondral ossification. This process is controlled exquisitely by cellular interactions with the surrounding matrix, growth and differentiation factors, and other environmental factors that initiate or suppress cellular signaling pathways and transcription of specific genes in a temporal-spatial manner. Vertebrate limb development is controlled by interacting patterning systems involving prominently the fibroblast growth factor (FGF), bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), and hedgehog pathways. Both positive and negative signaling kinases and transcription factors, such as Sox9 and Runx2, and interactions among them determine whether the differentiated chondrocytes remain within cartilage elements in articular joints or undergo hypertrophic maturation prior to ossification. The latter process requires extracellular matrix remodeling and vascularization controlled by mechanisms that are not understood completely. Recent work has revealed novel roles for mediators such as GADD45b, transcription factors of the Dlx, bHLH, leucine zipper, and AP-1 families, and the Wnt/b-catenin pathway that interact at different stages during chondrogenesis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most critical articular diseases with synovial hyperplasia followed by impairment of quality of life. However, the mechanism(s) that regulates synovial cell outgrowth is not fully understood. To clarify its mechanism(s), we carried out immunoscreening by using antirheumatoid synovial cell antibody and identified and cloned "Synoviolin/Hrd1", an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Synoviolin/Hrd1 was highly expressed in the rheumatoid synovium, and mice overexpressing this enzyme developed spontaneous arthropathy. Conversely, synoviolin/hrd1 +/− mice were resistant to collagen-induced arthritis by enhanced apoptosis of synovial cells. We conclude that Synoviolin/Hrd1 is a novel causative factor for arthropathy by triggering synovial cell outgrowth through its antiapoptotic effects. Our findings provide a new pathogenetic model of RA and suggest that Synoviolin/Hrd1 could be targeted as a therapeutic strategy for RA.

In osteoarthritis (OA), adult articular chondrocytes undergo phenotypic modulation in response to alterations in the environment owing to mechanical injury and inflammation. These processes not only stimulate the production of enzymes that degrade the cartilage matrix but also inhibit repair. With the use of in vitro and in vivo models, new genes, not known previously to act in cartilage, have been identified and their roles in chondrocyte differentiation during development and in dysregulated chondrocyte function in OA have been examined. These new genes include growth arrest and DNA damage (GADD)45β and the epithelial-specific ETS (ESE)-1 transcription factor, induced by bone morpho-genetic protein (BMP)-2 and inflammatory cytokines, respectively. Both genes are induced by NF-κB, suppress COL2A1 and upregulate matrix meatalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) expression. These genes have also been examined in mouse models of OA, in which discoidin domain receptor 2 is associated with MMP-13-mediated remodelling, in order to understand their roles in physiological cartilage homoeostasis and joint disease.

Synoviolin, also called HRD1, is an E3 ubiquitin ligase and is implicated in endoplasmic reticulum -associated degradation. In mammals, Synoviolin plays crucial roles in various physiological and pathological processes, including embryogenesis and the pathogenesis of arthropathy. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of Synoviolin in these actions. To clarify these issues, we analyzed the profile of protein expression in synoviolinnull cells. Here, we report that Synoviolin targets tumor suppressor gene p53 for ubiquitination. Synoviolin sequestrated and metabolized p53 in the cytoplasm and negatively regulated its cellular level and biological functions, including transcription, cell cycle regulation and apoptosis. Furthermore, these p53 regulatory functions of Synoviolin were irrelevant to other E3 ubiquitin ligases for p53, such as MDM2, Pirh2 and Cop1, which form autoregulatory feedback loops. Our results provide novel insights into p53 signaling mediated by Synoviolin.

Objective. To analyze the differences in gene expression profiles of chondrocytes in intact and damaged regions of cartilage from the same knee joint of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.Methods. We compared messenger RNA expression profiles in regions of intact and damaged cartilage (classified according to the Mankin scale) obtained from patients with knee OA. Five pairs of intact and damaged regions of OA cartilage were evaluated by oligonucleotide array analysis using a double in vitro transcription amplification technique. The microarray data were confirmed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and were compared with previously published data.Results. About 1,500 transcripts, which corresponded to 8% of the expressed transcripts, showed >2-fold differences in expression between the cartilage tissue pairs. Approximately 10% of these transcripts (n ‫؍‬ 151) were commonly expressed in the 5 patient samples. Accordingly, 114 genes (35 genes expressed in intact > damaged; 79 genes expressed in intact < damaged) were selected. The expression of some genes related to the wound-healing process, including cell proliferation and interstitial collagen synthesis, was higher in damaged regions than in intact regions, similar to the findings for genes that inhibit matrix degradation. Comparisons of the real-time quantitative PCR data with the previously reported data support the validity of our microarray data.Conclusion. Differences between intact and damaged regions of OA cartilage exhibited a similar pattern among the 5 patients examined, indicating the presence of common mechanisms that contribute to cartilage destruction. Elucidation of this mechanism is important for the development of effective treatments for OA.

Objective Our previous study suggested that growth arrest and DNA damage–inducible protein 45β (GADD45β) prolonged the survival of hypertrophic chondrocytes in the developing mouse embryo. This study was undertaken, therefore, to investigate whether GADD45β plays a role in adult articular cartilage. Methods Gene expression profiles of cartilage from patients with late-stage osteoarthritis (OA) were compared with those from patients with early OA and normal controls in 2 separate microarray analyses. Histologic features of cartilage were graded using the Mankin scale, and GADD45β was localized by immunohistochemistry. Human chondrocytes were transduced with small interfering RNA (siRNA)–GADD45β or GADD45β-FLAG. GADD45β and COL2A1 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were analyzed by real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction, and promoter activities were analyzed by transient transfection. Cell death was detected by Hoechst 33342 staining of condensed chromatin. Results GADD45β was expressed at higher levels in cartilage from normal donors and patients with early OA than in cartilage from patients with late-stage OA. All chondrocyte nuclei in normal cartilage immunostained for GADD45β. In early OA cartilage, GADD45β was distributed variably in chondrocyte clusters, in middle and deep zone cells, and in osteophytes. In contrast, COL2A1, other collagen genes, and factors associated with skeletal development were up-regulated in late OA, compared with early OA or normal cartilage. In overexpression and knockdown experiments, GADD45β down-regulated COL2A1 mRNA and promoter activity. NF-κB overexpression increased GADD45β promoter activity, and siRNA-GADD45β decreased cell survival per se and enhanced tumor necrosis factor α–induced cell death in human articular chondrocytes. Conclusion These observations suggest that GADD45β might play an important role in regulating chondrocyte homeostasis by modulating collagen gene expression and promoting cell survival in normal adult cartilage and in early OA.

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-13 has a pivotal, rate-limiting function in cartilage remodeling and degradation due to its specificity for cleaving type II collagen. The proximal MMP13 promoter contains evolutionarily conserved E26 transformation-specific sequence binding sites that are closely flanked by AP-1 and Runx2 binding motifs, and interplay among these and other factors has been implicated in regulation by stress and inflammatory signals. Here we report that ELF3 directly controls MMP13 promoter activity by targeting an E26 transformation-specific sequence binding site at position ؊78 bp and by cooperating with AP-1. In addition, ELF3 binding to the proximal MMP13 promoter is enhanced by IL-1␤ stimulation in chondrocytes, and the IL-1␤-induced MMP13 expression is inhibited in primary human chondrocytes by siRNA-ELF3 knockdown and in chondrocytes from Elf3 ؊/؊ mice. Further, we found that MEK/ERK signaling enhances ELF3-driven MMP13 transactivation and is required for IL-1␤-induced ELF3 binding to the MMP13 promoter, as assessed by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Finally, we show that enhanced levels of ELF3 co-localize with MMP13 protein and activity in human osteoarthritic cartilage. These studies define a novel role for ELF3 as a procatabolic factor that may contribute to cartilage remodeling and degradation by regulating MMP13 gene transcription.The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) 3 are a family of enzymes that coordinately degrade components of the extracellular matrix in physiological/normal matrix remodeling processes (1) and in disease states wherein their aberrant and enhanced expression contributes to exacerbated matrix degradation (2, 3). Type II collagen is a major constituent of articular cartilage that contributes to its structural and functional properties by conferring tensile strength, and its degradation is the pivotal event that determines the irreversible progression of osteoarthritis (OA), in which articular cartilage is slowly and progressively destroyed (2). OA occurs in conjunction with changes in the synovium and subchondral bone that are associated with dysregulated chondrocyte physiology exemplified in part by the abnormal expression of catabolic and anabolic gene products (2). In this context, proinflammatory cytokines have been shown to trigger a diverse array of intracellular signaling pathways leading to the overexpression of a variety of matrix-degrading enzymes, including MMPs (2).Because collagen degradation is mediated almost exclusively by MMPs, those with higher collagenolytic activity (collagenases) are the rate-limiting, major players in irreversible cartilage destruction (4), and MMP13 (collagenase 3) plays a very prominent role here. MMP13 preferentially and more potently cleaves type II collagen compared with other collagenases (5-7). Moreover, MMP13 levels and activity are enhanced in OA cartilage, associated with degenerative changes and co-localizing with MMP13-specific type II collagen cleavage products, inflammatory cytokines, and their receptors (4,8). Furt...

We recently reported the importance of Synoviolin in quality control of proteins through the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) system and its involvement in the pathogenesis of arthropathy through its anti-apoptotic effect. For further understanding of the role of Synoviolin in vivo, we generated in this study synoviolin-deficient (syno ؊/؊ ) mice by genetargeted disruption. Strikingly, all fetuses lacking syno died in utero around embryonic day 13.5, although Hrd1p, a yeast orthologue of Synoviolin, is non-essential for survival. Histologically, hypocellularity and aberrant apoptosis were noted in the syno ؊/؊ fetal liver. Moreover, definitive erythropoiesis was affected in noncell autonomous manner in syno ؊/؊ embryos, causing death in utero. Cultured embryonic fibroblasts derived from syno ؊/؊ mice were more susceptible to endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced apoptosis than those from syno ؉/؉ mice, but the susceptibility was rescued by overexpression of synoviolin. Our findings emphasized the indispensable role of the Synoviolin in embryogenesis.