Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Preliminary studies have demonstrated that recombinant adenovirus expressing nuclear factor κBp65 (NF-κBp65) specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) can suppress NF-κBp65 expression in the knee cartilage and synovium, decrease transcriptional activity of NF-κB and limit the levels of interleukin 1β and tumor necrosis factor α.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of adenoviral vector-mediated NF-κBp65-specific siRNA on experimental osteoarthritis in the rat knee.
METHODS: Three-month aged male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups. The osteoarthritis model was induced by transection of the medial collateral ligament and partial medial meniscectomy in the rat knee. Then, 0.2 mL adenoviral vector-mediated NF-κBp65-specific siRNA and adenovirus were injected into the knee of NF-κBp65-specific siRNA and adenovirus groups, respectively. There was no treatment in the osteoarthritis group, no modeling in the normal group.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The scores on the knee cartilage and synovium were significantly increased in the osteoarthritis and adenovirus groups (P < 0.01), while the scores in the NF-κBp65-specific siRNA group were decreased dramatically (P < 0.01), but still higher as compared with the normal group (P < 0.01). Adenoviral vector-mediated NF-κBp65-specific siRNA can suppress the progression of early experimental osteoarthritis.