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US 8,263,546 B2Granted
Prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis
AssigneeUniversity of Kansas
InventorJinxi Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Subjects lacking Nfat1 display osteoarthritis in weight-bearing joints. Osteoarthritic changes associated with Nfat1 deficiency are characterized by articular cartilage degradation, articular chondrocyte proliferation/clustering, progressive articular surface destruction, periarticular chondro-osteophyte formation, and exposure of thickened subchondral bone. Methods of treating osteoarthritis, methods of diagnosis and early prediction of the onset of osteoarthritis, and methods for screening drug candidates that may be useful for treatment of osteoarthritis are presented.
Claims16
A method of treating osteoarthritis, comprising:
- providing a subject having at least one of an Nfat1 protein or gene expression level or an Nfat1 transcription factor activity level reduced by at least 50% relative to a wild-type control in cartilage or peripheral blood cells;
- and
- administering an agent to the subject to increase Nfat1 protein or gene expression or to increase Nfat1 transcription factor activity in cartilage tissue in the subject above the reduced level, wherein the agent is selected from the group consisting of an Nfat1 protein, a nucleic acid encoding an Nfat1 protein, and combinations thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.