Does antisense inhibition of osteogenic protein 1 disturb human articular cartilage integrity?
Our results suggest that OP-1 is an important endogenous cartilage factor that regulates matrix integrity and possibly needs to be induced or up-regulated to maintain normal cartilage homeostasis. These findings confirm our hypothesis that a lack of autocrine OP-1 may lead to an elevated susceptibility of chondrocytes to the catabolic processes, thus contributing/promoting cartilage degeneration.
These results indicate the important role of the leukocyte-type 12-LO pathway in restenosis in response to injury.