Preliminary Study Of The Relevance Of DDR2 And MMP-13 And Their Potential Roles In The Cartilage Destruction Of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

The hyper-proliferation and invasiveness of synovial tissue is the main reason for the destruction of joint cartilage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our previous studies have indicated that discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) was highly expressed in the RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes and increased the expression levels of MMPs upon collagen stimulation. As MMP-13 was considered as the rate-limited enzyme in the destruction of joint cartilage in RA patients. we raised the following hypothesis: "type â…¡ collage---DDR2---MMP-13" such a positive feedback loop may be the critical process in the cartilage destruction in RA. To further explore the potential roles of DDR2---MMP-13 signaling pathway in the cartilage destruction of RA, we analyzed the protein levels and tissue distribution of DDR2 and MMP-13 in the synovium sections from RA patients or OA patients by immunohistochemistry. In addition, assay system in which MMP-13 expression was regulated by DDR2...