Publications

Abstract Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with cartilage breakdown, brought about by ADAMTS-5 mediated aggrecan degradation followed by MMP-derived aggrecan and type II collagen degradation. We investigated a novel anti-ADAMTS-5 inhibiting Nanobody (M6495) on cartilage turnover ex vivo. Bovine cartilage (BEX, = 4), human osteoarthritic – (HEX, = 8) and healthy-cartilage (hHEX, = 1) explants and […]

Abstract Aggrecan is one of the first proteins to be depleted from articular cartilage in early osteoarthritis. We investigated the molecular differences between matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)- and aggrecanase-mediated aggrecan degradation, as a consequence of their distinct time-dependent degradation profiles. Cartilage degradation was induced by cytokine stimulation in bovine articular cartilage explants and quantified by a […]

Abstract OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the time-dependent effect of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF)-I on cartilage, evaluated by a novel procollagen type II N-terminal propeptide (PIINP) formation assay. This was performed in a cartilage model. METHODS Bovine articular cartilage explants were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM):F12 in the presence […]

Abstract OBJECTIVE Calcitonin has been suggested to have chondroprotective effects. One signaling pathway of calcitonin is via the second messenger cAMP. We undertook this study to investigate whether increased cAMP levels in chondrocytes would be chondroprotective. METHODS Cartilage degradation was induced in bovine articular cartilage explants by 10 ng/ml oncostatin M (OSM) and 20 ng/ml […]

Abstract OBJECTIVE Aggrecan is the major proteoglycan in articular cartilage and is known to be degraded by various proteases, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The present study was undertaken to develop immunoassays detecting aggrecan and its fragments generated by MMP and non-MMP-mediated proteolysis. METHODS Two immunoassays were developed: (1) the G1/G2 sandwich assay employing a monoclonal […]

Abstract OBJECTIVE Both matrix metalloprotease (MMP) activity and cathepsin K (CK) activity have been implicated in cartilage turnover. We investigated the relative contribution of MMP activity and CK activity in cartilage degradation using ex vivo and in vivo models. METHODS Bovine articular cartilage explants were stimulated with oncostatin M (OSM) 10 ng/ml and tumor necrosis […]