Quantitative analysis of DNA methylation-related proteins in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract Background Knee osteoarthritis is a common musculoskeletal disease characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage. Current diagnostic tools are limited to radiographs and physical examination. Methods We collected osteoarthritis cartilage tissues of five patients at different OA stage. We performed genome-wide DNA methylation sequencing and proteomic assays. For proteomic data processing, raw data from LC-MS/MS were imported into Proteome Discover 2.4 (Thermofisher) for analysis. For DNA methylation data processing, statistical differences in continuous variables between the two groups were compared by independent-samples t test. The possible causative genes were identified by cross-analysis of the two tests Results We identified 13 potential genes as osteoarthritis-related genetic signatures after analysis of the methylation and proteome. Conclusions Our study found that the process of knee osteoarthritis may be regulated by a combination of epigenetic and genetic modulation.